Back in the mid-80’s I traveled Great Britain for two weeks.
We started in London, rented a car and drove more than 1500 miles through and
around England. We made our way to Canterbury first, then on to Dover for a
night in a B&B. We explored the coastal areas along the south of England
and walked through Rye.
We were taken by the architecture of course, but also the
cobble stone streets, paver sidewalks, and lack of poured concrete. I don’t
recall every seeing poured concrete as a walking surface in all of England. Only pavers were used
for such purposes. Although you might expect such a surface to be uneven in
places and a tripping hazard, such was not the case.
The shops, homes and chapels that lined the streets were
quaint and useful. This was not a museum but rather a living community.
Villages all around, mature trees and shrubbery, clean and neat town squares
and high streets. And nary a straight road in sight. All meandered every which
way. The views were naturally cute, cozy and welcoming.
So, too, the countryside. Rambling, rolling, patchwork
croplands, border hedges and copses of green everywhere. Billowing bunches of
green – mature trees, mature crops, waving grasses and grains. Abundant life
with green and shades of green everywhere. Peaceful. Welcoming. Permanent.
Permanent. A good word for England. For all of Great
Britain, really. Permanent. Its been there for thousands of years. It sits at
the left shoulder of Europe. It is surrounded by seas and ocean channels, yet
seems to embrace all of that rather than being embraced by them.
Great Britain provides a calm presence in a sea of changing
cultures and warrior nations ill-suited to their histories. They have lasted
millennia through thick and thin. They have retained their nature and resolve.
And their smiles and warm welcoming arms.
This is what life should be, one thinks. Pleasant. Safe.
Resolute.
Not so many nations. Russia is one such. A history as long
as life itself, yet unsettled and boisterous and violent. Deep resentments seem
to entwine its people. And they imbue their governments with the same. Why is
that, do you suppose?
The current issue of Foreign Affairs, discusses the not dead
histories of many nations – the USA and its horrid foundation of slavery,
Russia, China, Rwanda, South Africa – and so on. Each has a history or
backstory seemingly not forgotten but often ignored. Who has transcended its
culture from such drudgery of history to live again in bright, fresh life? None.
Not one.
China ignores its thousands of years of violence and
awfulness. They place a smile on their face and move into the future ignoring
all that preceded its current days. Russia, as well, masks the bad stretches of
history, ignoring Stalin, Lenin and so many despots who killed millions of
fellow citizens to claim hegemony over each other. And wealth. And control of
minds and thought. A central power decides what is right and proper, and for
whom. Not free minds of beauty and intellect. Just power and dominion over
others. But don't forget the minds of beauty and intellect still exist and produce power thoughts.
And the USA? Founded upon slavery and class distinctions by
birth and race, America has not yet forgotten its rotten past and inculcates it
all in a restless memory of bad behavior. Today’s America still stirs with its
racial past and uncivil treatment of people not considered mainstream. Ours is
a nation of assumed privilege, earned status, class dominance. Rather than a
nation of free persons urged and nurtured to breathe free and expansive lives,
we are rendered into servitude of ideologies ill-suited to serve man’s
peacefulness and goodwill yearned for so long.
How did we get here? And why do we not shirk the bounds of
such negativity and assume the mantel of freedom and expansiveness?
We started with Britain’s tidiness. Its resolve for permanence. We end with the messy
America not envisioned. But ever so real, and not getting better.
If it matters, let’s aspire to the better within us. Each
and everyone of us.
Please?
December 28, 2017
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