Unexpected encounters

A wonderful aspect of traveling is all the people you meet along the way. Yesterday we were in one of my favorite book stores when a woman approached me and asked if i lived in that city. i replied that i didn't, told her i lived in the Virgin Islands and  she said she was from South Africa. She was looking for a popular, recent book to bring as a gift to her friend. She wanted something an avid reader may like and thought i looked like someone who could give her some ideas.

We started chatting about books, roamed around the book store together and introduced our husbands to each other. It turns out he is an avid birder in South  Africa and off we went on another round of chatting. By the end of our soujourn in the book store we had exchanged addresses and phone numbers and invited each to visit the other. It was one of those instantaneous  i like you kind of exchanges.

And it hasn't been the only one we have had. At another public venue we met an executive from General Motors in South America. We were sitting on the same bench resting while waiting for family members. We chatted about shoppers and their frenzies especially during sales and how without it the economy wouldn't churn. i said if it had to depend on me it would go bust because i wasn't a big consumer. He also was not a consumer but his wife was and he was suffering through it. They had been at the mall since 9:30 in the morning and it was now 7:00pm.

Since we had to wait so long we ended up getting very chummy and started talking politics. He was very forthcoming about the politics in his country and before we knew it we were discussing socialism, capitalism and what had been happening in S.A. Ever the grand inquisitor i asked him how he felt about the changing political landscape and he amazed me by saying he was in favor of it. He said for too long the disparity between the wealthy and the poor had held back the country but that now it was thriving.

Instead he was worried about our nation and said that if the Republicans got in we should expect a further deterioration. His grasp of our politics and the influence of money in it led him to believe we were on the way down which he found horrifying. He said the US had always been the guiding light but that now we had lost our way. He was genuinely worried about our future and saw us heading towards what they had gotten rid of... military, money and government in bed together. He saw the relationship between the three as an exercise in disaster and wondered out loud what was wrong with Americans that they were unable to see this.

i of course agreed with him but reflected on the fact that most Americans were too busy trying to make a living to pay attention to where the country was headed. He was upset that more of us didn't discuss politics and study what had gone wrong around the world when the wealthy had too much power and used the military to further their corporate goals. i could have talked to him all day but had to move on.

So far this trip has been very rich in deep discussions with people who don't live here but are very concerned for the health of our nation. i hope i meet more along the way.

i don't have time to edit so bear with me while i'm on the road.

See ya next week.

Stateside

There is a really good book out called "Beyond the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo which takes place in Mumbai. The book's author spends years frequenting a slum by the international airport. Without interfering in anyone's lives she is able to develop an intimate feeling for each occupant and writes about them with the intensity of a fictionalized novel.

This morning i was sitting at an apartment , very early in the morning in a big city trying to figure out what birds were calling to each other. They had awakened me at the crack of dawn and i wanted to know who they were. Binoculars in hand i scanned the available trees(three), power lines, and chimney tops. Birds flew in and out of my field of view and i ticked off the ones i knew and looked up the ones i didn't. i drank my tea, watched squirrels, listened for birds and waited for the rest of the house to wake up.

After observing for about 15 minutes i saw an Asian man approach a pile of garbage that had been stacked out on the street for the morning pickup. He was clean, thin, medium height, closely cropped hair, wearing brown trousers and a brown shirt, he looked like he could be anyone from the neighborhood putting out their garbage and was pushing a cart filled with stuff that looked like he was getting rid of.

i watched out of curiosity as he took a large full plastic bag off the cart and walked over to the pile. Instead of throwing it on the pile he placed it on the sidewalk away from the pile and walked across the street to a set of blue garbage cans that were lined up. He opened the lid of the first one and took out a small plastic bag that was maybe 1/3 full. He kept doing this emptying the bags and putting them aside. He emptied the contents back into the bin then kept picking through the can.

I thought he had hit a gold mine. Aluminum cans that had been placed back in their cardboard containers came out in threes, fours and fives. He unloaded the cans into the plastic bags he had emptied and kept picking. Bottles came out too so he walked back across the street and got his cart to move it closer to the bins. He methodically laid the bottles on their sides in the main part of the cart and stuffed the extra plastic bags into a box he had hanging off the side.

He went through every trash can on the street, kicked bags lying on the ground to see if they needed going through and methodically worked his way up the block. He had a spritzer bottle filled with something liquid and a towel that he cleaned his hands with. If i hadn't watched him picking through the garbage i would have thought he was a resident.

Trash picking, politics, caste systems, death and life all are brought to the surface in Boo's amazing piece of work. Reading a book like that about India divorces you from the reality that some of these same types of occupational endeavors are going on daily in our own country. We tend to close our eyes to the realities that many homeless endure on a daily basis and believe ourselves to be better than those countries we read about or visit.

i haven't been in the states 24 hours yet and already i'm seeing the dark side of our nation in an affluent community.

See ya next week.

Legalize same sex marriage on St. Croix

On marriage equality...did you know that divorce rates are highest among evangelical's. i don't know if that's actually true but i picked it up somewhere. The other one i picked up was that divorce rates are higher in conservative states...i wonder if that is true, actually i think that one is. On a personal level here on St. Croix it does seem that most of my liberal friends that are in long marriages have been married a long long time while most of my conservative friends in second long marriages have all been divorced at least once. Another anomaly i suppose and one not based upon reliable data, but it makes for interesting rumination.

Anyway, this past week was historic in ways most of us on the left never expected. President Obama came out in favor of marriage equality and set off a fire storm amongst those for and against.
Before i go on and just to make it perfectly clear i am in favor of marriage equality and see no reason whatsoever to think that two men or two women marrying will ever affect the institution of marriage between a man and a woman in a negative manner. In fact i think it will only strengthen the institution by encouraging more people to make permanent commitments and i applaud the president for openly expressing his views.

In many ways i have always thought that a homosexual man or woman hiding in a straight marriage is grossly unfair to the other partner. They can never love that person the way they should or deserve and live a lie their entire lives making everyone unhappy. Why would anyone condone or encourage these types of relationships? Why not encourage a healthy relationship between two adults that want to love each other without hiding.

People like Pat Robertson say the sexual union of two men or women brings disease and pain... well i hope he knows that it can bring disease and pain between a man and a woman just as easily. Syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes can wreck havoc. Domestic violence, emotional violence, alcoholism, drug abuse and anger can ruin childrens lives in a heterosexual marriage. Divorce, death there are all sorts of instances where marriage falls apart unexpectedly. Just because a man and woman are married is no guarantee that a family is intact or that the children will come out unscathed. And the same will go for man,man and woman, woman marriages also.

When those on the right talk about the institution of marriage they see this unreal vision of family bliss. Take off the rose colored glasses and support marriage equality cause their getting married is never going to affect your marriage in any way shape or form. Marriage equality will probably cut down on sexually transmitted disease and create more stable communities.

The positive part of marriage equality is that two people that love each other can legally tend to each others needs and the needs of their family without having to worry that the rug will be pulled out from underneath them.

i read a story recently of two men who had been together for decades. They had invested in properties, built a business and made a life together. When one got sick as they got older the other was not allowed to make decisions and the hated sister in law came in and wrecked havoc. She had always hated the companion and his relationship with her brother so she denied him access to his lover while in the hospital because she was the next of kin. When his partner died she took him to court and got half of the estate, ruining his business, taking his home and disrupting his life. Had they been allowed to legally marry this never would have happened. They spent a lifetime together and this one vindictive sister came in and made the survivors life a living hell.

But now i get to the real crux of this piece which is that St. Croix should legalize same sex marriage immediately. Can you imagine how this will boost our economy? Everyone wants to get married in a tropical paradise and because marrying legally for gays is limited to a few states we could be at the cutting edge of a booming industry. Just think of all the occupations that would be impacted positively...flowers, transportation, housing, food, clothing, entertainment, lawyers, judges, real estate people and the list goes on.
So tell your friends we should legalize same sex marriage. Spread it around, talk it up, i'll bet it will make us a boom island once again.

See ya next week.

Music Day

After the rain stopped it was gorgeous!

Today is one of those medley days when I'm tired of trying to save the world and just want to have fun and let someone else do it.
So to perk you up and make you think a little listen to Eddy Grant and his Electric Avenue clip on You Tube.

Now you have the rhythm and hopefully have noticed the political commentary flowing through a song that so many love to dance to.

The Neville Brothers out of New Orleans used to be one of my favorite bands to listen to and see. Their song Brother John is a great ode to a fallen warrior.


You probably didn't listen to either one of the above because so many of us are always in a hurry and don't have time to slow down and take a small break. Scroll back up...pick one out...turn up the volume and walk around until its done. You need a break from sitting at the computer anyway so here is your chance.

If you didn't like either of those two above and don't want to get up yet, here are some photos you can look at.
After you finish looking at the photos scroll back up and at least listen to Electric Avenue and get out of your chair. These were taken at Jump Up and around the island. Get out of your chair and listen to the music!!!!

Add caption

This lady was selling hats and that's the moon behind her, isn't she beautiful?

Two white dinghy's looking so peaceful at the dock

Yep that's Lance coming up the Beast!

Shot during a sunset walk on the beach

Scaly-napped Pigeon blurred through binoculars

See ya next week!

Ahhhh factor

It's raining here after a dry spell and although rain usually makes me feel like cuddling up at home with a good book i was out doing my morning swim. When the clouds move in the incredible hues of gray are just as beautiful as a clear day. The understated color ranges from deep dark and ominous looking to white out conditions in a 180 degree visual sweep when out in the water. Sometimes a bit of rainbow appears then disappears just as quickly. Rain pelting down in sheets moving west against the mountains is a fabulous sight to observe. Rain pelting on the top side of the water while you are looking at its impact underwater and the fish going about their business as if its just another day never fails to bring the ahhhhh factor front and center. The water was amazingly clear considering the conditions above.

The ahhhh factor plays a huge role in my daily life. It creeps up when i'm valuing a storm, watching nature, or learning something new. This morning i stumbled upon an article that said that agnostics, atheists and the non-religious, according to a study done by Saslow and Willer at UC Berkeley have been shown to be more compassionate than highly religious people. Having an emotional connection to someone who is less advantaged or even a complete stranger is a strong indicator for generosity.

Rob Willer, the studies co author, said that most religious people, “may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns Overall, his research suggests that although less religious people tend to be less trusted in the U.S., when feeling compassionate, they may actually be more inclined to help their fellow citizens than more religious people,”

And so i had another ahhhhhh affect after reading the piece. Having experienced this first hand as a child when my mother approached the church for help i found myself not at all surprised that the highly religious may not view those in need with compassion. The church turned us away at was for us the crisis of a lifetime and the government safety net stepped in to fill the void we found ourselves in.

i always find it difficult to understand when those on the right claim charity is the purview of religious organizations not government. They fail to understand that those organizations can pick and choose who they help while the government as i understand it is not supposed to discriminate.If you have ever been turned away at a time of need by a non government group and then had the government step in and save you it is small wonder that trying to protect the safety net supported by our taxes is a no brainer.

The study done in no way confirms my bias regarding the less than charitable religious organization i experienced as opposed to a government safety net it just re-activated a childhood horror that plays out whenever i read studies like this http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/04/30/religionandgenerosity/ and which is why i'm against privatizing.

What exactly is privatizing better at for the nation?
Imagine Yosemite and Yellowstone with neon signs.
Or think about the residents of Chicago that get to pay more to park their cars at privatized meters isn't that a bonus?
How about toll roads becoming the norm...can you afford them?
Maybe you will be thrown into that private jail because you didn't pay your credit card bill fast enough.
Or there may only be one emergency room a hundred miles away that will take you if all the hospitals are privatized.
And what about that fire department will they let your house burn down because you forgot to pay your dues.
People need to understand that privatized government services are going to cost the tax payers more and will not necessarily be more efficient.  i think its better to support a seemingly ponderous government than an efficient ruthless gang.

Private contractors have to make a profit....any tax dollars that went to PROFIT didn't go to the service you were promised. Government does a lot that doesn't generate a profit, that will never be profitable but does serve the public which it is expected to do.

Public servants own their allegiance to the public. Private workers owe their allegiance to the corporation first.

Think about where you really want your tax dollars going.

See ya next week.