Seeking Wisdom

One of the things I’ve observed here in Ethiopia that I love about their culture is the prevalence of physical affection. Shaking hands is not just for introductions, nearly every time you see someone you make physical contact with them. A person you know is never just something you see, you feel them every time you interact. Men who are closer will shake hands then lean in and bump their shoulders together. It looks a little strange at first, but it’s so much more affectionate than a handshake. Partly because it takes longer, partly because you can shake someone’s hand with your faces four feet apart, but you brush ears if you’re bumping shoulders. When men are walking together they are hanging all over each other. Holding hands, an arm around a shoulder, one holding another’s wrist. It’s a bit shocking to see at first, especially coming from America, the no-touch zone. It’s been refreshing for me seeing this culture, as I’ve always been touchy. My mom would say that my pr...

"Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!" This trip to Addis Ababa has been one of the more difficult experiences of my life. Fun, fulfilling, and something I will forever be grateful for to be sure, but nonetheless difficult. The longest I had been out of the country before was only a week, and that was with seven people I was already friends with. Now I am come for two weeks, with just three people I’ve hardly known before we came, though I know better now. The loneliness has been difficult, and only felt more so in boredom. When I am working on the sensors, riding around seeing Addis, or sitting in meetings, I am not aware of it. But when I return to my hotel room, alone, I remember my home, and everyone I love seven thousand miles away. The locals that will walk with you on the street offer a false pretense of friendship. They will answer few questions about themselves, try to make themselves as agreeable to you as possible, tell you of str...

"You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. Two forms of moral relativism are descriptive and meta-ethical. Descriptive relativism merely asserts that moral structures differ between cultures and peoples. It’s a reasonable premise, and as such it’s quite widely accepted. Meta-ethical moral relativism is the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of “moral relativism.” This is the assertion that there is no objective moral truth, so we can’t say one culture’s moral structure is better than another. I’m going to paraphrase C.S. Lewis throughout as he’s got fantastic arguments on this topic. I think the first thing to realize about this second kind of moral relativism (I won’t discuss the first anymore) is that it disallows you to make nearly any value judgments about the actions of other people, unless you are sure you fully understand the moral structure...