There should be no shame in being an Upham, as most of us haven't been trained in the ways of war. And to quote the average Martha Stewart, 'that is a good thing'.
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Most of his disciples were common laborers and likely would have had little to no formal education. So who exactly would have taught them to read and write? I think people can't grasp the fact that throughout history most people were illiterate, and that simply because much of the world has decent literacy rates that the same situation existed in the past.