The following is adapted from a letter to a dear friend I thought I should post to maybe get me posting more again....
On the million everyday luxuries:
I think the hardest thing for me to adjust to, is that I REALLY enjoy those things. I think I've made peace with it though. I think it's about appreciating and enjoying those things and understanding that they are luxuries and not necessities, and trying to never take them for granted. I have to say, I love the trails here, being able to run in the fresh, clean air and not worry about traffic or gangsters. There is still a lot of stuff that I don't love, the rat race, the commute, the lack of public transport, American Idol. But I also feel a lot more ownership here, like it or not, this is my country, the politics, the society that we make here is my responsibility. I can't escape it, I shouldn't be able to escape it. But at the same time, it feels somehow disrespectful to discard the privileges that come with it, as if they didn't matter. Because if I didn't have them, they would matter very much. I don't know... I guess now, reflecting back, I really believe that more than any ideology, political system, philosophy or belief system, things work or don't, based on how emotionally, and spiritually sound the people in power are. In a nutshell, how comfortable they are in their own skin. What I am trying to say, is that I no longer have that secret wish that I were not American. I am no longer ashamed. Not because I think that everything is perfect here, or that I am perfect, but because we, like every other culture and country are extremely human: perfectly flawed.
On being American:
I just took a walk with a couple I was able to get into our transitional housing program. The father is Iraqi, the mother is Lebonese. I was pointing out their neighbors, one woman is Indian and the other family is Mexican. "It's a very American neighborhood," I said. On freedom, love and the freedom to love:
I went to a Brandi Carlisle concert Friday night at the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins. It was a great concert, despite the fact that a big chunk of ceiling fell through during the opening act. No worries, the show must go on. Anyway, I was thinking of my absent someone and how much it would have been nice for him to be there with me. I noticed the couple on my right, two girls, and I thought about how much worse it would be to have my someone there and not be able to hold his hand or touch his face, like they were doing now but not so long ago couldn't have (and in some places still can't). Maybe the most beautiful part of falling in love, is wishing it for everyone.
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