A Tale of Two Farms

Unpredictable changes. Photo by: Oceanworld.tamu.edu

"The economies of both farms were hostage to forces beyond the owners' control, such as the changing affluence and tastes of their customers and neighbors." (Diamond, 16)

Every business is subject to changes that they cannot control. For example, my parents own a company that makes skimboards and surfboards. After the oil spill and the economy collapse, my parents company almost collapsed. Thankfully my parents had a decent amount of money saved up. Many people in their industry went out of business though. The surf industry continues to suffer. Everything is subject to change, especially by things we cannot always control. This can be anything from a family or a small business to entire nations or the world. They can all be destroyed.

Books filled with history. Photo by: nwenergy.org

"The past offers us a rich database from which we can learn, in order that we may keep on succeeding." (Diamond, 17)

One of the best reasons to study history is to help prevent the same problems from happening again. Thankfully, we have a lot of history to look back on but some events are complete mysteries and could happen again because we do not know what caused the events. From what we do know, we should make changes to avoid future problems.

Maya City ruins. Photo by:historymuseum.ca

"Will tourists someday stare mystified at the rusting hulks of New York's Skyscrapers, much as we stare today at the jungle-overgrown ruins of Maya cities?" (Diamond, 20)

This reading asked many intriguing questions. This quote is the one I found most interesting. I've always thought of the world ending but never thought of what future generations will think of our world when we are gone. Will they wonder why we found our technology so helpful? Will they think we were crazy for using so many throwaway products? What people will say about us is a total mystery.