Humans and places of upbringing.

[Ishaya]

 

Humans are all humans (humus man)...

but our environments or places of upbringing are so diverse?

do you visualize yourself a native of somewhere very different from where you come from and try to imagine your journey through life from that place,what you may become and how you may be living by now.
for example,Imagine that you  grow up a Fulani herdsman from northern Nigeria or an Indian native from a remote village etc

What has been your experience with this exercise.

 

It is one of those things I do to pass time,for me it is interesting and humbling to try to understand and really feel how people live and become who they are from their environments.

 

What would you be if you were born and brought up somewhere very different from your place.

[Watching and Waiting]

Short Answer: A Basque shepherdess in the Pyrenees  

 

Long Answer:  As a young man and long before Jehovah ‘drew’ him and my mother to be his servants, my Dad  loved sheep.  He trained an Australian Shepherd as his sheepdog, who was his loyal companion until she herded her last sheep.  He learned to shear them and participated in contests.  He herded them on movie sets and later became a ‘camp tender’, taking supplies to the Basque herders who lived in tiny trailers right with their herds. Some of them became dear friends.  I learned how to tip up a bota bag for a quick squirt of wine from those same friends, as I often accompanied my father on his rounds to deliver groceries and wine to them. When feed was running out on the slopes, we often had sheep grazing on our land to help them out in a pinch.  Watching the lambs run in packs and their mothers scurrying after them in a dither, was truly entertaining.  We bottle fed many orphan lambs, some of whom became pets and roved our yard among our menagerie. 

 

Little did my Dad know, but Jehovah had something in mind for him, in caring for his sheep. My parents became servants of Jehovah in the 1950’s, and I learned about David and how he guarded the flocks and the effect that experience had on him for the remainder of his life.  That  really came alive for me.  I, like David, slept under the stars, which were so close in the summer sky that I felt like I could reach out and touch them.  I often thought that it must a wonderful way to live.  I would like to experience what those herders would have had in their native French/Spanish mountainous country, tending their flocks far away from the cities and all their attendant problems.  I can only imagine the different aspects of that lifestyle, I’m sure not easy much of the time, but the peacefulness and closeness to Jehovah sure calls to me. 

 

Getting back to my parents, the highlight of one of the many trips they took was New Zealand and Australia, because of everything ‘sheep’ that my Dad knew was there.  He couldn’t get enough of it.  There’s a lot more about his life-long love of sheep that I want to ask him about when he and my mother wake up in paradise.  

[Pabo]

2 hours ago, Watching and Waiting said:

Australian Shepherd

It is funny naming that breed as they did, as it is not Australian, but was breed in USA.

 

Here in Australia, most who do have sheep may have Australian Kelpies.

 

We have two ourselves, Missy and May (short for Mischief and Mayhem) who are sisters from the same litter. We got these from a brother in our congregation who does run a farm with some cattle. They are just pets for us, but they do keep in check the neighbours cattle away from the fence line. Missy is "black and tan", and May is "red and tan". They both are unique in the personalities, as Missy I refer to as the "Union Boss", as she lets you know by speaking back and pestering May to play. Whereas May is more the "Manager" who generally more quiet and calculating, which at times orders Missy around to do the rounding up whilst she sits in one spot monitoring the situation.

[Pabo]

@Ishaya

 

I was watching a show on TV last night where they were interviewing Eagle Hunters in Mongolia, and how they are diminishing in numbers, not the eagles themselves, but those who use eagles to do their hunting.

 

The climate and topography conditions that these people lives is truly outstanding. They live in the high areas on the desert plains, where it is -40C degrees in winter, and very barren areas. Their diet generally made of meat, very little greens or grains, as there isn't much water and vegetation at all. Truly a very beautiful scenery. However, not only the people who are eagle hunting are falling in number (due to the younger generation leaving the area for better jobs in the cities), but also those who have lived there all theirs lives have noticed that the winters that they have is no longer as harsh has they were many years ago, and that the snow isn't falling as much as it use too.

 

I too am amazed how people live in the areas that they do. They may be harsh environments, but they still survive and generally live simpler as well.

 

 

[Qapla]

7 hours ago, Ishaya said:

do you visualize yourself a native of somewhere very different from where you come from and try to imagine your journey through life from that place ... It is one of those things I do to pass time

 

Since you are from Nigeria (Imagine that you  grow up a Fulani herdsman from northern Nigeria), have you ever visualized yourself coming from somewhere like New York City, Paris, Moscow - or perhaps an island in the Pacific or even the Caribbean - or, how about along the Amazon in South America or the cold climate of Alaska?

 

 

[Ishaya]

3 hours ago, Qapla said:

 

Since you are from Nigeria (Imagine that you  grow up a Fulani herdsman from northern Nigeria), have you ever visualized yourself coming from somewhere like New York City, Paris, Moscow - or perhaps an island in the Pacific or even the Caribbean - or, how about along the Amazon in South America or the cold climate of Alaska?

 

 

 

Lol,in my mind amongst other places,I have been a native Indian forest dweller,I've been to the middle east and  I've been a native Jew,and a caveman in a cold winter weather.

[Ishaya]

1 minute ago, Ishaya said:

 

Lol,in my mind amongst other places,I have been a native Indian forest dweller,I've been to the middle east and  I've been a native Jew,and a caveman in a cold winter weather.

 

That's a lot of travelling I guess,Lol.

[Ishaya]

4 hours ago, Qapla said:

 

Since you are from Nigeria (Imagine that you  grow up a Fulani herdsman from northern Nigeria), have you ever visualized yourself coming from somewhere like New York City, Paris, Moscow - or perhaps an island in the Pacific or even the Caribbean - or, how about along the Amazon in South America or the cold climate of Alaska?

 

 

 

New York city  isn't different from Lagos,right? I've lived in Lagos a long time,big cities are all the same,different social classes,endless competition among the wealthy elites and the characteristic rat race and outrageous rents etc.

 

I don't think I would feel any much different visualizing myself in any big city.

[Qapla]

7 hours ago, Ishaya said:

I don't think I would feel any much different visualizing myself in any big city.

 

I have been to NYC, I lived in Chicago as a child, I have also been to Atlanta, Miami, and a few other large cities ... no, they are not all the same. 

 

Living in NYC involves dealing with the subway system, narrow city streets, vast amounts of pedestrian traffic as well as the cars ... then throw in the snow and cold weather in the wintertime - compare that to Miami, a place with no subways (water table is too shallow), more "urban sprawl", less pedestrian traffic and more wide roads full of cars, long hot summers and the threat of hurricanes ... then there is Denver, a mile high in altitude and mountainous terrain as well as big-city sprawl. The living experience in these cities is not the same at all.

 

Of course, you could also picture yourself living where I do. I am in the country. Half-hour drive to go shopping or work. Since I am in Florida, hot weather, rain and the threat of hurricanes. Compare that to living in the middle of Iowa or Nebraska and that rural area is completely different than where I live.

 

 

[Ishaya]

2 hours ago, Qapla said:

I

 

Of course, you could also picture yourself living where I do. I am in the country. Half-hour drive to go shopping or work. Since I am in Florida, hot weather, rain and the threat of hurricanes. Compare that to living in the middle of Iowa or Nebraska and that rural area is completely different than where I live.

 

 

 

Countryside is a great place to live if you don't like the noise and traffic in the city,I live somewhere similar in my hometown.but I grew up near the sahara desert interior north,I like that scenery a lot,it gets very hot in the day and very cold at night.we would always sit outside at night and watch the clear sky with beautiful constellations.

I kind of wonder how it feels to grow up in other places say the Rain forest and the cold Antarctic and dense snow zones,I think its really intriguing how people survive places like that.

 

But how do you manage to live under constant threat of hurricane? How does it feel when hurricane just begins and you know its hurricane? For how  long have you  lived this way?how do you get used to living under this condition? Would you want to live somewhere else?

 

Sorry its a lot of questions,I'm just curious.

 

[Qapla]

9 minutes ago, Ishaya said:

But how do you manage to live under constant threat of hurricane? How does it feel when hurricane just begins and you know its hurricane? For how  long have you  lived this way? how do you get used to living under this condition? Would you want to live somewhere else?

 

Let me try to take them one at a time:

• how do you manage to live under constant threat of hurricane?
  • First, I should point out that the Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year from June through November when hurricanes usually form in the Atlantic Ocean. It may interest you to know that the majority of the Atlantic hurricanes are formed due to winds and weather conditions coming off the west coast of Africa. So, the threat is not really "constant" - only 6 months.
• when hurricane just begins and you know its hurricane?
  • We do keep up with the weather most days to know if there is a "invest" or "wave" or "depression" coming from Africa or developed in the Gulf of Mexico. When they are declared a hurricane, we keep up with the progress to see where it is headed. If it is headed our way, we make sure we are stocked with needs and the house is prepared. There is usually enough warning to prepare.
• how  long have you  lived this way?
  • I have lived in Florida on this same property for 62 years. I was born in Philadelphia and then lived in Chicago before we moved to Florida
• how do you get used to living under this condition?
  • It's the same as getting used to living where it snows heavily, has earthquakes, is very hot and dry or even the weather you described near the desert. When that's where you live, the weather becomes "normal"
• Would you want to live somewhere else?
  • There are times I might have thought so - but having lived in snow (Illinois) and having visited relatives in SNOW (southern Colorado around 7500-900 feet elevation) and visited a number of large cities ... I like where I live. I definitely would rather live with the threat of a hurricane than the threat of an earthquake or avalanche.

How about you - is there somewhere else you would rather live than in your region of Africa?

 

 

[Ishaya]

49 minutes ago, Qapla said:

 

Let me try to take them one at a time:

• how do you manage to live under constant threat of hurricane?
  • First, I should point out that the Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year from June through November when hurricanes usually form in the Atlantic Ocean. It may interest you to know that the majority of the Atlantic hurricanes are formed due to winds and weather conditions coming off the west coast of Africa. So, the threat is not really "constant" - only 6 months.
• when hurricane just begins and you know its hurricane?
  • We do keep up with the weather most days to know if there is a "invest" or "wave" or "depression" coming from Africa or developed in the Gulf of Mexico. When they are declared a hurricane, we keep up with the progress to see where it is headed. If it is headed our way, we make sure we are stocked with needs and the house is prepared. There is usually enough warning to prepare.
• how  long have you  lived this way?
  • I have lived in Florida on this same property for 62 years. I was born in Philadelphia and then lived in Chicago before we moved to Florida
• how do you get used to living under this condition?
  • It's the same as getting used to living where it snows heavily, has earthquakes, is very hot and dry or even the weather you described near the desert. When that's where you live, the weather becomes "normal"
• Would you want to live somewhere else?
  • There are times I might have thought so - but having lived in snow (Illinois) and having visited relatives in SNOW (southern Colorado around 7500-900 feet elevation) and visited a number of large cities ... I like where I live. I definitely would rather live with the threat of a hurricane than the threat of an earthquake or avalanche.

How about you - is there somewhere else you would rather live than in your region of Africa?

 

 

 

Thank you Brother John for taking the time to respond to all those questions.its interesting really how possible it is to get used to environments thought to be challenging or maybe even dangerous.Sometimes it seem like to just find a way to cope and make the best use of where one finds himself but I wonder which is better, to cope or to run.every environment has its challenges really.

 

1 hour ago, Qapla said:

How about you - is there somewhere else you would rather live than in your region of Africa?

 

 

 

I would like North Africa or the Middle east,say a place like Iran (the ancient kingdom of Persia).west Africa is largely forested, I like the desert condition of north Africa or the middle east.

 

But as a humankind, I can live in any place in the world as long as I can be accepted and be free like every other human living there.

 

You know,It seem like a mystery to me how people get used to a place,

Im just wondering why people choose to stay in environments with obvious life threatening challenges and still get used to it and live normal.

 

[Pabo]

@Ishaya

 

If you want to experience 4 seasons in one day, visit Melbourne Australia.

 

There are a few brothers that live there that are here on the forums.

 

I live in a rural setting in the Hunter Valley. We are known to be a very windy place in the winter to early spring, also we are surrounded by coal mines, which brings about a lot of dust in the area too. We are known for spectacular lightning displays as well, which plenty of storm chasers and photographers do visit as well.

 

It is lovely when it is green with rain (below is taken from one of a dams - after some heavy rainfall in March this year).

 

 

Beautiful sunrises from the east

 

 

 

When it is cold we have bonfires

 

 

 

Early morning Moonsets

 

 

 

 

As well as sunsets

 

 

 

 

 

[Ludwika]

Beautiful pictures! 🥰

[Ishaya]

16 hours ago, Pabo said:

@Ishaya

 

If you want to experience 4 seasons in one day, visit Melbourne Australia.

 

There are a few brothers that live there that are here on the forums.

 

I live in a rural setting in the Hunter Valley. We are known to be a very windy place in the winter to early spring, also we are surrounded by coal mines, which brings about a lot of dust in the area too. We are known for spectacular lightning displays as well, which plenty of storm chasers and photographers do visit as well.

 

It is lovely when it is green with rain (below is taken from one of a dams - after some heavy rainfall in March this year).

 

 

Beautiful sunrises from the east

 

 

 

When it is cold we have bonfires

 

 

 

Early morning Moonsets

 

 

 

 

As well as sunsets

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow!

Its breathtaking.

[Ishaya]

Do we have in this forum anyone 

who was raised in cape Verde? Or who reside in cape Verde.