Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~Seneca
To get away from one’s working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one’s self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change. ~Charles Horton Cooley
The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway. ~Henry Boye
…by the race for the White House. I’ve always followed Presidential politics, but never as avidly as I have during this election. Since 9/11 our government has used fear as the means to justify attacking other countries, to spy on unsuspecting US citizens, to ignore our Constitution. Need a fact to substantiate a claim? No problem! We’ll create one! Feeling anxious? We’re from the government and we’re here to help—we’ll loosen the regulations on lending so you can get your fix of MORE.
As we’ve become overwhelmed by the “macro” complexities of our world, we’ve sought refuge in the “micro”–Red v. Blue, Black v. White, Straight v. Gay, Pro-Choice v. Pro-Life, Neo-Con v. Leftist. We’ve morphed into a nation of factions and the only thing United is each side’s ardent belief that they hold THE ANSWER.
We’ve witnessed our country’s slide from respected to scorned: we can’t even help ourselves (Hurricane Katrina); we’ve proved that Free Market strategies have fostered greed and, more recently, severe economic instability; we have abandoned our values (Gitmo, Abu Graib, and Torture).
We are not victims! We’ve participated in most of the disasters of the past 8 years. We’ve allowed ourselves to become distracted by fear, greed, and selfishness. Today we have a chance to set a different course. Please, please, please vote! Look at the issues and the candidates. Try to sort out reality from imagery (there you go again,wink, wink!) and let your voice be heard. http://www.voteforchange.com/
Click on the link below to be sure you are registered to vote. This site provides everything you need to know about registering, where to vote, early voting, and absentee ballots. Voting in the U.S. is a right and a privilege! Exercise your right and be part of this process!
I’ll let the famous people’s quotes answer the question:
A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” — Moslih Eddin Saadi
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” — Martin Buber
“A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent (which I cannot deny myself to be without being impious) will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.” — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled.” — Mohammed
“Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions.” — Peter Hoeg
“The journey is my home.” — Muriel Rukeyser
“To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” —Freya Stark
“Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else.” — Lawrence Block
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” — Robert Frost
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” — Pat Conroy
“I should like to spend the whole of my in life traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home.” — William Hazlitt
“Hitler didn’t travel. Stalin didn’t travel. Saddam Hussein never traveled. They didn’t want to have their orthodoxy challenged.” — Howard Gardner
In 1970 I taught first grade at Hubbard Woods Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois. At that time we taught a type of reading called ITA, Initial Teaching Alphabet. With a 1-to-1 sound/symbol relationship, a child can write any word that they can sound out. Granted, the words may look like gibberish; however, they are the actual phonetic equivalents of each spoken word. Many students who learned to read via ITA had atrocious spelling when they converted to the normal English language; but, what amazing
creativity flowed from children unrestricted by our cumbersome grammar and spelling. Who knows—maybe Spellcheck was invented by someone who learned to read using the Initial Teaching Alphabet!
38 years ago I asked my students to write out something they recited daily, the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Below is one I’ve saved all these years, and, since our Presidential campaign is in full swing, I offer it to you today (in recognizable spelling):
“I pledge a legions to the flag of the United snakes of America, and to the Republicans for which it stands, one nation under God, invisible, with Liv or Lee and just us for all.”
I hope the writer of the above realizes that today we have more than Republicans (the school was located in an upper class neighborhood. More important, I hope we all realize that we are NOT Republicans, Democrats, Green Party, Libertarians, Progressives, Black, White, Brown, Green, Purple, male, female, undecided, Catholic, Christian, Evangelical, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, agnostic, or atheist—we are Americans and we MUST work together to renew our faith in our country, its leadership, and to refocus our amazing potential for good.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisble, with liberty and justice for all.”
A couple of posts ago, I invited you to play a game, “Cout the SUVs and Minivans”. On Monday I forgot to count; yesterday, on my way to work I counted 19 vehicles and 18 of them had only 1 passenger. Today, returning from lunch, I began counting again and discovered 2 out of 11 vehicles had more than one passenger.
Some of the reasons I’ve heard to justify driving big gas guzzlers are: 1) I have to drive my kids to school; 2) I haul things; 3) It snows a lot and I feel more secure with a big 4-wheel drive vehicle; 4) If it works for the military, it works for me (Hello! Have you noticed their Hummers are old, decrepit, and break down regularly???); 5) I don’t want to be hurt in a car crash.
I confess I owned a “I have to take my son to school-mobile” 10 years ago. I even knew back then that the public reason made no sense—I had one child to transport! Also, unless my child was the progeny of the Jolly Green Giant or King Kong, he could probably fit in most regular sized cars. Last, I must have had a really good reason to trade in my Saab convertible for a Toyota 4-Runner, right?
So, here are some truths behind the given reasons for owning a gas guzzler: 1) I want to fit in (i.e. “keep up with the Jones” syndrome—guilty as charged!); 2) I am independently wealthy and have no care about the cost of fuel; 3) I will be dead before the damage to our environment is felt (i.e. the “I am selfish” syndrome); 4) I am a multiple spouse in a pluralistic community and have to schlep 20 kids at a time.
On Monday join me in a counting game. Here are the rules: When you are outside, looking outside, driving around, walking, jogging—just somewhere where you interact with the world besides on your computer—count how many SUV’s and minivans you see AND add a second column: how many have only one person in the car?
On my next post, I’ll share my score for this game! Later!
Before I begin, I remind you that today is Monday, May 19th—no matter what day it really is! If you’re not following my logic, I invite you to re-read the last post.
May 19, 2008
Using frequent flyer points sometimes requires a person to fly from here to there in less than perfect timing, flight connections, etc. Our flight to South Africa is an example of the perils of using mileage points. Although it is not an unusual flight plan, it has a very long layover.
Leader Limo (the absolute best in KC!) picked us up this morning and whisked us to Kansas City International Airport (we will never be in contention for “World’s Busiest”–thank God!) where we boarded our flight to Cincinnati. Did you know that Cincinnati is the home of Graeter’s Ice Cream? Ice cream afficionados know these things, of course! Oprah knows this, too, and has given her seal of approval to Graeter’s!
Because we have several hours to enjoy the Cincinnati Airport (which can be easily enjoyed in less than one hour), we contemplated renting a car to go to the nearest Graeter’s store. We planned to pig out on their divine creations and lug our sated, bloated bodies back to the airport while toting some extra pints of this mother’s milk packed in dry ice! Go ahead and scoff! You haven’t tried Graeter’s, have you?
Bowing to the gods of moderation and judgement, we decided we’d just sit at the airport, do Sudoku puzzles, eat the delicious food always available at airports worldwide, peruse the exciting shops (all together now—Wilson Leather, PGA shop, the book store, Brookstone, the Duty-Free shop, the local souvenir shop, et al), inspect the restrooms, do Sudoku, get bored, wish I had brought my laptop, look at my watch, re-inspect the bathrooms, tape my watch to my forehead so it dangles before my eyes, eliminating the repetitive wrist strain of checking the time every minute, and finally board the flight to Paris.
Tune in tomorrow for my exciting entries in the saga of the Traveling Kings!
Last night we had one of those storms that are part of Kansas lore (think “Wizard of Oz”). I’ve already described it and I’m confident you’ve memorized each and every word of my previous entries!
This morning my wandering mind took me to the Land of Coincidinks (coincidences for you regular folk). I’ve heard that events in life happen in 3’s and this was my 3rd hailstorm in 3 weeks. The first 2 brought such joyful memories and this one came after we laid my dear friend, Richard Stern, to rest.
Richard’s funeral was beautiful and we shared the joy, the gentleness, the bigness, the creativity, the music and photography that was Richard. Right before the Rabbi began the service, we listened to the song, “Here comes the sun”, a joyful reminder to celebrate Richard, to treasure our times together and our memories, and a request to fully live our lives after a “long, cold lonely winter.”
Last night when the storm began, I was grateful that the rains had waited until after the funeral and burial. I didn’t revel in the storm last night—it was something to endure, to get through, and hope that no electrical surge would fry my computer. I was very tired last night—very, very tired—and fell asleep as the storm raged on.
This morning I turned on my TV and searched for the Today Show. I love the times Matt Lauer globe-trots around the world and today was the last of the 2008 5-day series. Much to my dismay, the Today Show had been supplanted by local coverage of last night’s storm. I was shocked to see that 7 tornadoes had touched down in our region and, while no deaths have been reported, storm damage was severe. Closed to feeling and being totally self-absorbed, I channel-surfed, unable to find anything I wanted to watch. Although I’ve lately become a fan of watching the talking heads shout their political views, even that couldn’t soothe me this morning. That damn storm…
The light crept in through my shutters and began to reach my soul. I am truly saddened by what occurred to the homes north of here. I couldn’t imagine how to or where to begin sifting through the mess and moving on…just like I feel about the grieving process with Richard. “Where’s the positive in this hail, God? Were the storms raging Mother Nature’s tears?”
OR—perhaps, “How loving You are to give Richard an opportunity to experience the majesty of nature…from a new and sacred view…and this time his photographic eye is all he needs.”
Hailstorm #2 (see the previous post—I’ll wait…ready?):
Last week a typical spring storm meandered through Kansas City with the usual cast of characters—rain, wind, lightning and thunder. This time we had a surprise guest, hail. The hail loudly announced its arrival at 3:00 AM chastising me for trying to sleep through it. I got up and looked outside. Our deck was covered in white—reminding me of the picnic at the Peak. This time, however, the hail wasn’t accompanied by a gourmet meal; it’s presence gave me a chance to replay the event in Shimla and to delight in my memories.
Thank you, hail!