P21The Curious Life of a Preacher's Wife

Setting: Cultural Setting

Azul lives in the two half of the twentieth-century for the bulk of the story. Both countries, Paraguay and the United States, offer their citizens a great deal of freedom of choice and freedom of movement within the boarders of each individual country. Freedom of religion still has a great deal of latitude in Paraguay, even though it is a socialist country by administration and thought process. Freedom of religion in the United States is pretty much a given, even though the practice of this freedom is more and more frowned upon as the country explores the implementation of socialism.

Paraguay and the United States have multiple religions in representation. Christian religions range from Baptist to Catholic, and everything inside of and outside of that spectrum. Other religions, include Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and myriad other expressions of these thoughts as well as other thoughtsdon't necessarily include deities likeNew Age mysticism, and Jediism, which was codified after the popular Star Wars series hit the movie theaters.

The laws of these countries are based mostly and consistently on the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20:1-17. The government of Paraguay is roughly a dictatorship, whereas the government of the United States is roughly a representative republic, "as long as you can keep it" to quote Benjamin Franklin. In both countries these are law enforcement entities, which include the police force, and the branches of the military.

Both societies believe, that individuals can be successful, if he or she works hard, and supports the purpose of Society at large.

Technology advances from telephones, that are attached the the walls of homes and businesses to cell phone, which are untethered, and able to go wherever the individual goes. Medical advancements have helped people to live well into their eighties and nineties. Society has advanced to the point, that if an individual can afford something, he or she can buy it and enjoy it. These are modern Societies with much to offer the citizenry as well as the world.

Poverty still exists, but altruism is on the rise. There is reason for hope in the world.

by Jay O’Toole
on October 18th, 2021