WHY NOT? WHY NOT LEARN SOME GEOGRAPHY?
Plain Truth Magazine
September 1978
Volume: Vol XLIII, No.8
Issue: ISSN 0032-0420
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WHY NOT? WHY NOT LEARN SOME GEOGRAPHY?

When our astronauts went to the moon they returned with striking pictures of the planet on which we live. For the first time in history we could view our entire beautiful blue orb — a virtual God's — eye view. Seen from halfway to the moon, our good Earth is a sparkling jewel of life etched on the black background of lifeless space. It truly "hangs on nothing," as cited in the Bible record thousands of years old. It is desirable, cherished, regarded as "home" to those who have sailed the void of space. Political borders are not visible. Only continental outlines surrounded by the blue waters of life show any apparent "division." Unlike the globe map in the schoolroom or study, specific countries are not clearly identified in tones of pink, red, green, blue, orange or yellow. All those tones are there, but they softly blend into one another on closer view. Larger rivers and mountain chains become defined — and they have long been favorite political boundaries — but no harsh, straight lines of longitude or latitude are arbitrarily drawn in the natural view of Earth the way the Creator designed it. It is simply one single startlingly beautiful sphere, designed for all life on it to share — a single, life-filled spaceship, integrated, whole, entire — events occurring in anyone part eventually affecting the other parts: one body of life. But viewed myopically from its surface, harsh reality turns harmony into confusion and turmoil. To gain the riches planted on and under its surface by a generous and loving God, mankind has chosen to divide and conquer! Denying that he is of one family — Adam and Eve — mankind has accented his physical differences throughout history, creating more divisions on an ever increasing scale. Greedily and gorily grabbing and identifying with small pieces of the whole, each nation, no matter the size of the piece of land occupied, has suffered to one degree or another the loss of benefits to be gained by sharing the whole. History books are full of maps which show constantly fluctuating political lines and boundaries. Most drawn in blood, they demonstrate the rule of power: In each generation one group of mankind takes from its neighbors, its brothers. Today's world is no different — with perhaps one exception: More taking happens faster in more places at anyone time! Some few nations have had relatively stable borders for a hundred years or more. Most have changed radically with the decades. The years since the turn of the twentieth century have given map-makers nightmares. The "peace" treaties signed at the end of the two great world holocausts and countless smaller conflicts (merely marking lulls between rounds of war) resulted in the exchange, labeling — and relabeling — of territory. And, since World War II, as the developing Third World nations have wrested their independence from colonial overlords, they have renamed nations, cities and villages in a fit of nationalistic fervor. So, by the time the printers are through with the cartographers' painstaking efforts and copies are in the hands of the customer, the product is often out of date. Why not obtain a blank, nonpolitical map from your local stationery store? Get a piece of tracing paper and identify the most recent political changes on an overlay. Watch TV and print-media reports indicating changes. Make one copy a month — try it for the rest of this decade. If the whole world seems too much trouble, pick one continent. Why not try Africa? It is called the "dark continent" not because of the color of skin of the majority of its inhabitants, but from our admitted general lack of knowledge regarding it. But the light of day is coming to dark Africa. Africa is a seething kaleidoscope of ever changing ethnic demands, political persuasions, economic stress. Africa may be dark, far away and perhaps of little interest to you, but what happens there very closely affects your daily way of life. Scarce, on a worldwide scale, and absolutely necessary elements of mineral and vegetable form come from Africa — and without them your life would be drastically changed. Why not learn some geography — and more closely identify with another vast and important part of your world?

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Plain Truth MagazineSeptember 1978Vol XLIII, No.8ISSN 0032-0420