Part 7 was published December 3, 2023, and can be found here.

Some activities in the last sixty years:

BRAZIL

I found morality and integrity to be missing in Brazil also. I spent 10 days in Brazil after being asked to write a report on the Brazilian-made Valmet tractor. The Valmet Company is an ag manufacturer out of Finland.

A company from Oklahoma was willing to spend some money to explore the feasibility of importing the Valmet tractor to market in the US. That company's project didn't really get off the ground. Not long after we were there, the Valmet company was purchased by AGCO.

Sociologically speaking, my observation was that women were not treated as they should be in a modem society. Driving through Sao Paulo, a city of 25 million, I asked our driver, company host/interpreter, what constituted the average Brazilian family. He thought a little bit and then stated, "A man has a wife and 4-5 children." He paused then said, "and as many mistresses as one’s job would allow him to afford." I was also told that the Brazilian society, which originally was a Portuguese colony, is pretty similar to what is found around the Mediterranean rim. It is an area of the world where wives and women are somewhat second-class citizens. Sad but still true.

HORSES

Granddaughter Savannah wanted me to mention my dislike of horses. I rode a horse to school for the first five grades. That horse was much smarter than me. It would pick out an off-colored post along the road and when it got to the post, it would jump sideways three feet and leave me sitting on the road. It would then run home and I'd finish the walk to school. When I no longer had to ride a horse, I never wanted back on another one.

EDUCATION

This brings up a situation that affects some of my opinions even yet today. Our little country school was very similar, in my observation, to an average homeschool. There were seven or eight of us - I have tried to count the people, but my memory isn't perfect - in a one-room school with one teacher. Between the fifth and sixth grades, my parents moved toNess City, and I started the sixth grade. I quickly found out that I probably belonged in the second grade. I could barely read, didn't know the multiplication tables, and, to put it simply, school was a pain - an emotional nightmare. Not only was I tremendously behind academically, but I had not learned the social skills needed to simply get along with other kids. Then, later in junior high, my nickname was Rabbit. When we were dismissed for recess, if I didn't outrun some of the guys, I would get beat up.  So typically, after about a lap around the large playground, if I was able to outrun them, I could go sit on a swing with the girls and finish recess. This is why today, and I realize there are exceptions, l feel that many homeschooled kids never get the chance to develop the social skills that they are going to need to get along in society. When they are turned loose, I read that often bad things happen.

Remember that 1949-1950 was pre-television, unless one lived near Hutchison, Kansas, where the first very tall TV tower went up. After 10:00 p.m., we could sometimes get a signal where we lived. At this time, my parents made a very wise purchase: an Encyclopedia Britannica set. I remember coming home after school and reading them as they were my window to the world. Those books are how I was able to catch up academically. By my sophomore year, I was more integrated with classmates, and was no longer the dumb kid from the country.

Next: DODGED BULLETS.