Tags

4th of July, American Pride, Independence Day, July 4 Holiday, Living Abroad, Patriotism, Peace Corps

Photo by DT Krippene

I love Independence Day. It’s all about summer, family, picnics, BBQ, beer, fireworks and homage to Old Glory. In last year’s article, Star Spangled Memories, I reflected on summers spent at grandpa’s place on the lake, and the dozen photo albums of memorable fourths. For 2014, I’d like to revisit the subject of who we are as a nation.

If you listen to today’s seemingly immoderate media espousing the derision of our elected officials, many wonder what happened to the greatness that defined the country. Live a while outside our borders, I’ve no doubts you’ll find that greatness is still soundly intact.

I spent two years with the Peace Corps in Asia. They used to say “it’s the hardest job you’ll ever love.” What it should be is: “It’s a job that will make you appreciate where you came from.” Having spent more than a decade overseas in my professional career, you get a unique perspective of how other cultures live, and more importantly, what they really think of us Americans. Ask any military person who spent time overseas, and they’ll be happy to tell you how good we really have it.

We’ve had a tendency of late to feel our nation has lost its luster in the eyes of the international community. Aside from a few who have axes to grind or disappointed in our free-wheeling way of life, most are as positive of our country as they’ve ever been. They like America. They like our freewheeling cowboy ways, a place where anyone can be rich and famous, live your dream, speak your mind, and worship freely. The planet still has too many places where despots insist on dictating needs of the many.

Is it perfect? Oh, hell no. Right versus left, up versus down, enough to make your head spin. That’s what makes it great. People voicing opinions, standing up and saying what for. Democracy is chaotic, inclusive, confusing, open-minded, batty, and downright fantastic. Like all large families, it’s a potpourri of multi-generational next of kin that comes with large doses of squabbling and that crazy uncle we whisper about. And man, do we love to bicker.

Wouldn’t it be neat if all teens when they graduate high school were required to spend a year or so outside the borders? It can be the military, school internship, or service like the Peace Corps. Further away from the border, the better, get them out of that comfort zone of a familiar language and recognizable food. You may think it sounds radical, but they’ll gain a respect for different cultures, and I’ll bet when they repatriate home, they’ll be more patriotic than a general in the army.

What am I doing this fourth? Oh, the usual, check out the local parade, burn some meat over an open fire with a beer in my hand and grouse with friends about what’s wrong with whatever. Why?

Because I can.

I’ll also give thanks for the incredible luck of being part of the world’s greatest democracy … warts and all.

Tags

Couples Vacation, Cruise Ships, Family Vacation, Humor, Love, Romance, Vacation Cruises

Kovacevic – DepositPhotos.com

Romance writers love to tell period tales of pirates, sailors, sea captains, and the women whose hearts are broken by them. Might have had something to do with why seafaring men of yesteryear considered the presence of women on ships to be bad luck.  Much has changed since then.  An entire industry evolved around getting folks on cruise ships to find or rekindle love’s illusive spark.

A recent weeklong cruise gave me an opportunity to observe romantic rituals of people sequestered on today’s modern SS Gluttonous Seas. Enthralled by the dichotomy of behaviors, I discovered love could still be a challenge for some, despite the best efforts of ship crew to conspire, coddle, and coerce folks to love the one you’re with. The following is a summary of my questionably unscientific study.

Continue reading →

Tags

Allentown Morning Call, iThink, National Libray Week, Reading, Refuge in Books, Young Adult Literature

From Pinterest – kimmie-bee

Every once in a while I catch an article written by a young adult that is both enlightening and heartwarming. High School freshman, Eva Johnson shared her thoughts with the Allentown Morning Call about how Reading Books Gives a Chance to Escape to Unknown Places. She begins with a story of how her younger brother said “the most earth-shattering, heart-breaking thing” to her.

“Reading Sucks”.

Continue reading →

Tags

Dreamcatcher, Dreaming, Inspiration, Jeffery Kluger, REM Sleep, Spark of Invention, Story Ideas, Thomas Edison, Twilight Zone, Twilight Zoning

From: DepositPhotos.com

People ask me where I get my story ideas.  Like everyone else, I answer, seeing something, hearing something, being somewhere.  To be honest, though, my best ideas come at that brief, predawn moment between sleep and consciousness.  I like to call it Twilight Zoning, a cooler name for Stage 5 or REM sleep.

Continue reading →

Tags

Ancient Healing, Dark Ages, Global Healthcare, Global Poverty, Healing, Historical Medicine, Jean Abrams, Medicine, Revolutionary Medicine, Third World

Sergey Novikov – DepositPhotos.com

I read a book review on Jeanne Abram’s Revolutionary Medicine, and it reminded me of how primitive our medical knowledge was a couple hundred years ago.  A common treatment for fevers was the practice of bloodletting, believed to enhance the balance of body humors, or fluids.  Sterile technique wasn’t a concept back then, with soiled fingers probing open wounds.  Ms. Abram tells us our 20th President Garfield didn’t die of a would-be assassins bullet, but the resulting infection from dirty fingers digging for it.  George Washington was bled four times just before he died. No wonder the mortality rate was so high. I think it’s safe to say we’re fortunate with today’s modern medicine, where the concept of bloodletting is limited to samples and donations.

I’ve read plenty of stories in dystopian and apocalyptic fiction where humankind is punted back to the dark ages.  Having the medical resources of our revolutionary times would be thinking on the bright side. Look at stories like The Hunger Games, or the movie, Ephesium, and tell me your heart won’t break at humanity mired in poverty, and a privileged class isolating themselves from “human chaff” with access to better diets and care.  Of course, it is just a story, but the recent tragedy in the Philippines is a wrenching reminder that adequate, basic medical care is beyond the reach of way too many people in this world.

Continue reading →