Civilization

I look out over my balcony and see the gleaming lights and shimmering towers of Kuala Lumpur. The red lights make their way in an orderly fashion into the city, and the white lights come in my direction lined up one behind the other. The rain falls out of the clouds, onto the trees and roofs, down the gutters, into the storms drains and Klang River and out to sea. The air conditioning unit above our glass doors hum in activity, cooling our flat. Ice cubes are made in the freezer to go with a glass of filtered water. We have no weapons in our house for we feel safe from intruders. Every few days, I'll open my laptop and check my various mailboxes for communication from people in other parts of the city, the country and the world. I wonder when I'm old if I'll communicate with ex-students when they travel between planets? Music from Mali, England, Egypt, Lebanon, California, and Hawaii fill the room and bounce of sketches of sheesha pipes and whirling dervishes, mud cloths, rain drums, and a peasant hat taken from it's original use which is now art.

And so this an afternoon in the life of a teacher in Kuala Lumpur, a city filled with the elements and factors of a civilization. Sure, I have all the items of a civilization, but is it truly a civilization?

The last few days in humanities, the students have discussed the dimensions that make up a civilization, using their own prior knowledge and skills to come up with these lists and thoughts. The following is a list, in no particular order, of the categories required....or present in a civilization:

1. government /politics
2. entertainment /art
3. transportation
4. nature /environment
5. food
6. water
7. resources
8. shelters /buildings
9. economy
10. belief system
11. culture
12. education
13. technology
14. communication

They were asked to order, or rather, itemize or prioritize these factors that make a civilization. In doing so, they came up with a list. Students could not agree 100%, but did agree that water, food, resources, and nature/environment were a priority and culture and entertainment/art were not. A couple of students mentioned in discussion that technology is not limited to computers and iPhones, but includes simply using a rock to separate animal skin from meat. Additionally, one student mentioned that the A380 was not the only mode of transportation, but simply walking, as Homo Erectus did, is as well.

Connections, I think, are being made between what these 21st century students have in their civilization and what others need to simply survive.

Well, I think I need some food, so I'll just drive down to the market, buy some fish with money that I earned while working, and cook it in a pan over gas that's bottled in a tank. Ahh, civilization. Hopefully, all the other drivers obey the traffic laws and the fish hasn't been contaminated in an oil spill.

What do you think about civilization?

Happy night.