promote literacy in third world countries

its so interesting for me to read my entry from almost exactly a year ago. at my age, when a year goes by, you end up a totally different person.

recently, after developing somewhat of a “social conscious” and making a decision (which forced me to drop out of school and move to another country) that id dedicate my studies and career to helping others, i remembered that a while back i had “develop a social conscious” as a goal on 43things. this goal sort of foreshadows a major event later on in my life.

when i first adopted this goal, it was something i wanted to do in a distant time and place… it was something so far off it was sort of just a faint dream. but now, with the things im getting involved with, i can do this now. when i go back to latin america this summer, ill have the opportunity to work with education, and this might give me the opportunity to fulfill this goal!

im an atheist, and perhaps because of this, i value knowledge and information very much. here in the united states of america, most of us have the great opportunities of public education and the internet. i was reading an article on rural ethiopia for anthropology class, and the article mentioned the issue of illiteracy. i kind of realized that literacy is absolutely vital to everyone. economically, it helps a “backwards” society become able to sustain quality life by being adaptable and quick-learning. purely from anecdotal evidence and belief systems, i think that it helps people as individuals to have access to information only available through reading.

like a lot of people, ive always kind of wanted a “humanitarian cause” to believe in. i think i may have found one.