Tag Archives: Wonder

I Wonder, Part 2

I still wonder.  A lot.  It seems that the older I become, the less I know about anything.  The more I read, the more questions I seem to have.  At this rate, I wonder if it’s possible that I will know less when I die than I did on the day I was born.  I wonder about that.  I wonder if you do, too.

I wonder about a global economy wherein so many human beings are in need of so much, while the leaders of governments and industries struggle with the need to grow.  I wonder if we’re even talking about the same planet.  I wonder if impoverished people in Nicaragua know that we in the U.S. spent $7 billion on Halloween costumes, cards and candy this past weekend.  I wonder what they think about that.  I wonder if we think about that.

I wonder if it is even possible any longer that world use of renewable energy sources will be reached before practical depletion of fossil fuels.  I wonder what the outcomes will be if the world does not achieve such a transition.  I wonder what my children will think of me and my generation in such a case.  I wonder if I’ll still be around to hear their frustration.

I wonder about the people I know in Nicaragua, and whether they are doing OK.  I wonder if their harvests have been as good as hoped.  I have not been in the country since April; I wonder if they wonder where I’ve been.  I wonder if they know that I think about them every day.

I wonder about the lottery.  Not the Powerball one, but the one in which the next group of random people are selected by some deluded gunman for elimination from this life.  I wonder what the odds are that any of the victims will be family members or friends.  I wonder if there’s anything I can do about that?

IMG_2810I wonder about Yareli.  I wonder if she is learning, growing, thriving.  I wonder what she is doing.  I wonder about all of her friends and the kids throughout the country, and how they are doing.  I wonder if Nicaraguan leaders truly see her and her classmates as the absolute future of Nicaragua.  I wonder if our paths will ever cross again.

I wonder if we’ll ever get to Mars.  Do we care more about that planet than this one, I wonder?  Sometimes the depths of our conflicts and problems here seem so overwhelming as to be unsolvable.  But I wonder if it could truly be said that the grass might be greener on Mars.  I wonder if anything could grow there.

I wonder if a Nicaraguan farmer could grow anything on Mars.  (Some might say the environments aren’t dissimilar.)  I wonder if a Nica farmer would be successful on land here in Iowa.  I wonder if an Iowa farmer could be successful in Nicaragua.  I wonder if it’s the soil or the soul.  Or something else entirely.  I wonder if U.S. farmers empathize with Nica farmers, and vice versa.

I wonder what the U.S. will be like with a new president in 2017. (Right now, it’s hard for me to picture almost any of the candidates as president.)  I wonder if Nicaragua can envision anyone as their president in 2017 other than the incumbent.  I wonder if new presidents would make any difference to either country.   I wonder what Donald Trump thinks about Nicaragua;  I wonder if he knows there is a Nicaragua.

I wonder what the animals know that we don’t.  Some scientific studies demonstrate that certain species have specialized knowledge and innate senses far beyond our own, that allow them to experience the world very differently than we do.  I wonder why we aren’t more curious to learn more about that.  Especially anything related to stronger memory.

I wonder every day if I’m doing everything I can….