Post by hikerjer on Feb 5, 2016 21:22:53 GMT -8
When John Francis witnessed the ravages of an oil spill on the California coast in 1971 he took a vow to not ride in a motorized vehicle and a vow of silence until he felt the time was right to end them. He ended up walking across the country and large parts of South America for the next 22 years never speaking a word during the time. During that time, he earned a Bachelor's degree (U of Southern Oregon), a Master's degree (U of Montana) and a Doctorate degree (U of Wisconsin) all while not speaking. Really, quite an accomplishment. He used his time walking to advocate the causes of environmental awareness and world peace using sign language, pantomime and his banjo playing to communicate. However, worthy as his goals might have been, a couple of things bothered me. First, he seemed to live off the generosity of others for a large part of the time. While he would, on occasion, have a job or fellowship at a university, it seemed a great deal of the time he was dependent on others rather than on himself. I have no problem with people accepting help from others, but to make it a lifestyle while pursuing one's own long term goals kind of bothers me. The other aspect that came up, or rather didn't come up, was his being African American. Not that it was a problem, but given the racial climate in this country, I thought it would be more of a factor in his experiences. It just hardly was ever mentioned. Whether that is due to his simply not caring to comment on its impact or whether it just speaks highly of this country's acceptance of people, I'm not sure. I did find it somewhat surprising though. Overall, I did find the book interesting and certainly do admire Francis for his accomplishment.