Vivien and I are, as you probably know, naturalized Americans. We’ve lived here for over 20 years and lovin’ it. It’s very beautiful but, as I said to myself on the early visits, the problem is AMERICANS! Such a gorgeous country and so many silly, destructive or crooked people. They don’t appreciate what they’ve got (held in trust for the world) and seem hell bent on destroying it by greed and abuse.
Now we live here, of course, we have a better perspective. There are some WONDERFUL Americans: sincere, caring, jovial and of outstanding integrity and spirituality and it is to these people Vivien and I entrust our future.
Since we’ve arrived, the HORRIBLE political polarization we have found very disturbing. Take the last couple of years: Democrats seem to consider it their duty to bring down Trump, even though he was elected by a sweeping majority. The Dems. are actively working against democracy, despite their very name. The governor of California, Gavin Newsome, publicly announced he was stealing $50 million of Californian taxpayers money to bring down Trump (he didn’t call it stealing, of course, he’s too self-righteous). But since it’s to be used to oppose the will of the majority of Americans at the vote, it is surely not legal.
Don’t think I’m Republican either. The way they fight women’s rights over their bodies with such fury is chilling to behold. It’s as if they think they OWN yet-unborn babies. And large numbers of Rep. senators are heavily invested in the pharmaceutical industry, so they oppose natural healing in principle. We all know about the corrupt lobbying in Congress (read bribes). But enough: as I said, Americans are the problem, not this lovely country.
And, I repeat, not all Americans.
We are lucky to live out West, in the desert. Apart from the good weather, within a few hours drive we have such spectacles of natural beauty as Yosemite, the Sierras, Zion Canyon (surely the most beautiful of all?), Bryce, Grand Canyon, Lakes Meade and Powell, Sedona and the California coastal drive (Highway 1). Vivien and I love whale watching from the clifftops in California. Blues are very common!
It’s like living in Heaven!
Yosemite National Park (yo-semmity for those of you who have never been)
As for Las Vegas, we love boasting! I remember an event one time years ago when we were up in the hills above Lake Como, Italy. It was late and we still hadn’t secured a bed for the night. We called on one hotel, which still had the lights on late. The moment they learned we lived in Las Vegas, they couldn’t do enough for us! They had been the previous year and LOVED it! Unfortunately, they had no beds left but called every other hotel in town, till they found a vacancy for us!
Spoiler Alert: we don’t like the Strip and very rarely go there! We live in a leafy suburb, up the north-west mountain slopes!
Seemingly little things: I am back writing my epic novel on whales and whaling. And it makes me proud that the USA, of all the nations on earth, forced the whaling moratorium in 1982, using her economic power and immense clout to force other nations to comply. It still holds today, though the Icelanders, Norwegians and Japanese have never honored it and continue their senseless slaughter out of sheer arrogance and stupidity.
It’s a fact that US farmers are, collectively, raping the land for greed and profit. But it has been a delight to learn of the many small family concerns that are trying to oppose Big Ag(riculture). The slow food movement and the farm-to-fork campaign relies on them, as does the future of the land. They have it tough because, far from helping them, the Washington bureaucrats seem determined to make it unprofitable for small farms. But we have first-hand knowledge of courage and tenacity and occasional spectacular successes of very bright individuals, who are more of credit to the nation than the numerous jumped-up political nobodies who are harassing them.
And as for courage of the ordinary soul; do not doubt it. Almost weekly we see reports of hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters, where people are rendered homeless and struggling. But the neighbors come forward, often showing great courage, putting themselves in danger to effect rescues. And helping each other rebuild too, without recompense, simply because that’s the right thing to do!
Decency you might think is a rarity these days. But in fact it is not so. The media love to report tales of death, loss and misery and will often do so while deliberately omitting any instances of goodness and compassion. Ugh!
We find the average American to be caring, sincere and honest. It’s just the few who tarnish the image of the many (Hollywood is pretty good at tarnishing the average American too!)
Healthy? No! Americans eat very badly on the whole. It’s virtually forced on them by greedy commerce which wants to sell you far more than you need. Supersize everything! They can sell you 20% extra for virtually no extra cost, so guess what? They push and push till it’s very annoying to keep refusing. Here taking home a doggy bag of left-overs is virtually the norm!
A note about our firemen: we love them! They are so dedicated and courageous. Their job is exacting and very dangerous; wild fires, when they get going here, can wipe out whole hillsides and acres of communities, sometimes in a matter of minutes. In fact 60 – 100 US firemen die every year, protecting people and properties. Because of their calling, it is not uncommon to have the customers in a café burst into spontaneous applause when a fire crew walks in to get themselves a morning coffee!
Not so the police. They do themselves no credit, with unnecessary killings and deadly beatings, often racially motivated. Many black people know that if they are pulled over, they are immediately in danger of their lives. The officer will often have a serious attitude problem and try to provoke trouble. The apparent police approach is shoot first and ask questions later (or just skip the questions…)
All this started at coffee this morning, when Viv suggested that it would be nice to make everyone aware of just what is good about the USA. For instance the magic of Monterey marine aquarium. We only learned via a British TV program (Blue Ocean, I think it was called) about the marvelous conservation and recovery program that was being conducted offshore there. The blue whales are back! There are now several THOUSAND blue whales at large off the California coast.
And on a similar tack, have you heard of the marine 100% “no take” zones? It was an idea first launched by marine biologist Bill Ballantine in New Zealand. But the idea has caught on and now the USA has the largest marine fully-protected zone in the world. It’s off the Hawai’ian chain. The Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument covers roughly 583,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean; actually larger than all U.S. national parks combined, as of its 2016 expansion!
These zones are to be totally 100% free from human interference. That means no trawling. No line fishing. No spearfishing. No hooking a lobster out of its lair. No prying off a clump of rock oysters…
The great thing is it’s working and within an astonishingly short space of time marine animals are back in sufficient numbers to spill out into the nearby ocean and thus benefit local fishing noticeably.
I’m sure you’ll be delighted to know there has been a call to make 30% of the world’s oceans “no take” by 2030!
Gotta love it! Thank you Vivi!
Prof.
