Measuring progress according to Gross National Happiness. Remenber Bhutan's young King

[ConsAreLiars]

and his transforming a very traditionalist society into a democracy which actually has been able become one that, unlike ours, is moving toward becoming more one in which happiness for all is being attained?

Or, never even heard anything about that?

Well, it happened, and it is actually happening. In either case, give up 30 minutes of TV and watch this. I assure you the trade off will be a good one, no matter what commercial TV you miss.

Here's a video of a half-hour interview with Bhutan's Prime Minister: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/101east/2010/07/20107815544364980.html

"Another World Is Possible."

[Oregone]

1. Related article from today

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/atlantic/canadian-at-centre-of-bhutanese-governments-gross-national-happiness-movement/article1637606/

[ConsAreLiars]

2. Good article. The PM addreessed some of these concerns

in the interview. On one side, a population which, like most of the planet, has not learned of the utterly malevolent objectives of the entities which offer them shiny stuff. On the other, non-human entities (TransNationalCorps's) that see them as prey. Bad odds.

I wish them well. If the TNC's continue to plunder and loot and cause suffering both on the sides they regard as paid agents and the sides they regard as obstructive, there may be some span of time in which Bhutan can move forward on the path they have seen.

[truedelphi]

3. Yes as admirable as the nation of Bhutan seems to be, they also seem to be

In one very vulnerable position.

But still and all, I have found myself fantasizing about living there.

In fact, the immigration issue is one of their most glaring problems - the fact that people from all over would like to move there.

[ConsAreLiars]

4. There was a time, maybe more, but one I knew, in Afghanistan's history

when good-hearted travelers moved through that land and good-hearted Afghans saw no problem and the less informed saw something strange but not threatening. That reality moved the land into a more progressive direction until the US began importing murderous fundie crazies to end all that. Here's hoping the decaying empire is to busy killing itself to be able to destroy yet one more innocent land and people.

[truedelphi]

5. I read the most beautiful book about a traveler through Afghanistan

And how much he was impressed with the Afghan People's connection to nature and the land.

The people there were amazing herbalists. They knew exactly the specific cycle of the moon to plant this herb or that herb, and exactly how to harvest, down to again the change in the moon's cycle linked to observations about the plant's overall condition of ripeness.

It was a most wonderful book, with descriptions of close to two dozen herbs. As I read it, I was thinking that someday I could visit that nation and explore the herbs that were grown there. (The opium poppy was mentioned in passing, but was not the focus of most of the people that book's author talked to.)

Unfortunately soon after I read the book, the Russians moved in, and then George Bush the Elder (along with Barbara) went there and saw to it that Bin Laden and his group should be recruited to stop the Soviets.

Now that entire ability to live in peace, raise one's family, extend hospitality to travellers, and grow herbs is lost, probably for a long time.

And of course, when American soldiers notice marijuana being grown in a pot or two outside someone's house, they notify the Afghan equivalent of "Neighborhood Watch."

[ConsAreLiars]

6. Luke Powell, introduces his online Afghanistan photo gallery with these words:

"It is important for those living in the industrial world to develop an appreciation for cultures that are sustainable, to learn to see beauty and survival in a world where people walk, live in daily contact with animals, raise their own food, pray, and live in families. Such people have as much to teach us as we have to teach them." ( http://www.lukepowell.com/ ) His photos cover the period before the CIA began destabilizing the progressive government that had emerged, during it, after the US actions had brought the Taliban into power, and the beginning of the US occupation. Three decades.

When I traveled through there, my companion had added only a bandanna to cover her hair, same tight blue jeans and blouse. as had began in Turkey and was worn through Iran, but otherwise we both dressed as we had in the US. Previous travels had been wonderful experiences, quite varied, but entering Afghanistan was crossing into another dimension, another reality altogether.

Luke Powell put it this way, accompanying this photo:



"For overland travelers arriving from the West, from Meshed and the bright deserts of Khurasan, Herat was the first Afghan city encountered, and this tree-lined street led into the city. As I lay on the bed my first day in Herat, stunned by the journey, an awareness of having entered a different world came slowly and gently. There were canaries and finches singing in the halls. Outside there were few motor or radio sounds. Instead, the klip-klop, klip-klop, chinga-ling-ling of carriages passing by mixed with the vendors voices, the cries and songs of children, and the bleating of sheep and goats herded through wide boulevards. In November, 1971 soldiers still occupied ancient citadels, and men rode by on horseback with flowing robes."

I still cry when I think of what the US Powers That Be have done to the Afghanistan I knew.