Bananas

Conversation in Texas.

“Where are you from?”

“Malaysia.”

“Where’s that?”

“Do you know where Singapore is?”

“Guess not.”

“Vietnam?”

“Nope.”

Thinks, ‘Good heavens. They tried to wipe the place out...’. Says, “What about Australia?”

“Is that near Europe? They is mostly white folks, right?”

Oh, dear. The World Leaders know nothing of the World. We are, as one, doomed.

Another conversation.

A friend of mine has a map of the World in his office. It is huge. Where it came from is a mystery, he doesn’t tell me that. I suspect a measure of dishonesty somewhere!

This map is, probably, around fifteen feet from one end to the other.

We were entertaining an American businessman who was here, in Malaysia, to promote some sort of aviation spare parts supply business. He was from, he said, Springfield, Illinois—home of Homer Simpson.

It seemed, somehow, appropriate given the following:

He was running his finger over Europe.

Me: “I am from Europe. Perhaps I can help you with what you seek?”

Him: “Can’t find Japan.”

Me: Stunned. Walks to other end of map.

Him: Bats not one eye.

Me: Puts finger on Japan, thinks, says, “What makes you think Japan is in Europe?”

Him: Scathingly, “There’re only two guys (sic) that make cars—Amurricans and Yurrupians.”

Ergo, Japan is in Europe.

Me: Goes and sits down.

Sadly, the World’s view of geography is not limited to Americans. Those are the worst two cases from my personal memory files but there have been others that are not quite so... stark, maybe.

It is not uncommon for people to ask me where Malaysia is but the thing that worries me a little about these two is that they are from the richest country on the planet.

These are people who should be highly educated; their country runs with money, it almost falls from the sky so rich are they.

Yet their education is sorely lacking. It is not, as one might pre-suppose, all that it is cracked up to be.

During the Olympic Games held in the United States, athletes from all over the World were agog at the shops and their contents.

They were stunned at the choices available. To everyone.

This array of goods was not just for the President or his close friends; it was for anybody who walked in off the street.

Such richness. Unimaginable to the average Earth person.

These goods come from all over the World. The World is chopping down its timber to feed the requirements of the American public yet they have no clue as to where that timber comes from.

Do they know where their cocoa beans come from? Do they know why American, European and Asian chocolate tastes different?

Bananas. Does the average American shopper know that there is a Trade War going on that involves, at its root, bananas? Probably not.

There is so much there. There is everything that anybody could possibly want—not just need.

Except education.

One of the problems I have with my aviation students is that they know, when they come to me, all about the latest technology, they can tell me about electronic gizmos and glass cockpits and all sorts of wonderful things but they know no basics.

Basic knowledge is a closed book.

I ask them, “If I hand you a lump of air that weighs ten pounds—how big is it in diameter? Roughly. I don’t need exact numbers.”

They look at me as if I have just fallen out of a tree.

One said, “Air weighs nothing. That’s a stupid question.”

So I asked him what the atmospheric pressure is at sea level according to the International Standard Atmosphere.

He laughed and said, “Fifteen psi, of course.”

So I laughed and said, “That’s fifteen pounds of air sitting on a one square inch disc on your hand. Fifteen pounds. I only want two thirds of that.”

Basics. We are so technologically advanced that we have no comprehension of basic knowledge and how important it is.

That is why I worry when the people with the most funds available for education can go and blow up half the World but they cannot tell me where Malaysia is or where bananas come from.