School children in the 1960s spent a lot of time studying Russia. The crux of the lessons was that communism is a bad thing. I decided that I didn't want to be a communist because they all lived three families to a four room apartment, and their diet consisted of beet soup and lots of cabbage. Our teachers were concerned because Russian students were supposedly smarter than American school children in the maths and sciences. I didn't know how that could be known for sure since Americans weren't easily allowed into Russian to conduct comparative educational testing and Russians, except for defecting dancers and Olympians, weren't allowed out.
What did fascinate me about the Russian system was the five year plans. In 1928, Stalin began the first program of five years duration aimed at increasing industrialization and collectivizing agriculture. Thirteen more five year plans followed, the last of which ended in 1991 almost before it started, due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. I decided that people should lay out short and long term goals and reevaluate periodically. It's interesting, the things kids take away from their lessons in elementary school social studies books.
Happy in Hainesport is five years old. It's been five years of my travels, crafts, and DIY projects. I won't promise five years of something new, but maybe the next year could contain something different. We'll see, and I'll be working on that.
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