thedrifter
11-23-05, 08:04 AM
A New Love of Home
Written by Joe Mariani
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
It is often said that travel broadens the mind, but I’m not entirely convinced that’s true. Instead, I believe that travel actually clears the mind, allowing us to return home with a fresh perspective on old problems and a readiness to embrace new challenges. It allows us to discover, if we’re inclined to self-examination, a new love of home and what it means to us.
It is all too easy, I suppose, to be overwhelmed by the lure of the new. It’s in our nature to want to explore different places, view strange horizons, and taste all that other cultures have to offer. For Americans more than most other people, I think, a visit to other parts of the world has all of that, in addition to the lure of the old.
On a recent trip to Spain, I was as drawn as anyone to the older sections of Madrid and the small towns of the countryside. The twisting streets only fit for walking, the weathered, time-etched churches, the trendy new shops and bars housed in buildings raised when America was still a young nation all seemed to cast a sort of spell. I was moved by the almost untouched wilderness of the Gredos Mountains, through which Celts, Romans, kings and conquistadors alike marched without the land even seeming to notice their passage. I was impressed by the generosity and friendliness of all the Spaniards (and Portugese) that I met.
However, as much as I loved traveling to Spain, and as much fun as I had, no moment gave me quite the rush of emotion as the feel of the plane’s wheels leaving the ground when I began my journey home.
It’s not because I had difficulty speaking the language that I looked forward to going home, nor was it due to simple unfamiliarity with the country. It wasn’t due to the different food, either. On the contrary, the challenges of getting along in a foreign land were exciting and entertaining, to me as well as many of the Spaniards with whom I conversed. My mime repertoire has expanded to the point where moving to New York City, painting my face white, and doing the “Stuck in a Box” and “Walking Against the Wind” routines for donations is now a fallback career choice.
I once had to mime gettng a blister to a clerk at a pharmacy while looking for bandages. Walking all over a city is hard work. When I needed to wash clothes, I stunned several life-long Madrid residents by finding (traveling via bus and sore feet) a self-serve landromat -- a thing which few Madrilenos had supposed even existed in their city. As for the food, I nearly bought a whole pig’s leg to bring home, so I wouldn’t miss the jamon serrano too soon. I’m sure my fellow passengers wouldn’t have minded my boarding the plane with a pig’s leg slung over my shoulder like Errol Flynn carrying a deer in ''Robin Hood.''
As exciting and different as other places in the world might be -- and they are -- I will always only have one home, and that’s the USA. Here is the place generations of my fellow-countrymen struggled to reach, to seize the opportunities offered -- then and now -- by life in America. I loved traveling to Spain, and look forward to seeing other parts of Europe and the rest of the world, but I know that I’ll always be eager to return home, where I belong by choice.
With the world to choose from, I choose this place. I wouldn’t condemn my descendants to retrace the journey my ancestors were forced to take by high taxes, struggling economies, and oppressive governments -- all of which still exist in the places they fled, though the names have changed.
I met some Americans eager to apply for dual citizenship and move to Europe, drawn by the older, different culture and atmosphere. That’s their decision, but could not be mine. I met even more Spaniards, however, who seemed eager to learn about and even come to America--especially after my setting the record straight on all too many issues upon which they’ve been misled.
When our liberals tell us that all Europeans hate us, I have to wonder whether they simply hate watching Americans bashing their own country in order to curry favor with foreigners. For too long their only sources of information about this country have been liberal movies, liberal newspapers, and liberal visitors, all of which frequently disparage and deride the American culture and people.
As the Internet culture continues to gain ground overseas, we will be able to exchange more information without the filters that have been in place for so long. The days of liberal information control will finally come to an end, as long as we keep the United Nations from taking control of the Internet. And I couldn’t be happier to throw a few spadefuls of earth on the grave of leftist disinformation from time to time, simply by not hesitating to speak my mind.
About the Writer: Joe Mariani is a computer consultant and freelance writer who lives in Pennsylvania.
Ellie
Written by Joe Mariani
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
It is often said that travel broadens the mind, but I’m not entirely convinced that’s true. Instead, I believe that travel actually clears the mind, allowing us to return home with a fresh perspective on old problems and a readiness to embrace new challenges. It allows us to discover, if we’re inclined to self-examination, a new love of home and what it means to us.
It is all too easy, I suppose, to be overwhelmed by the lure of the new. It’s in our nature to want to explore different places, view strange horizons, and taste all that other cultures have to offer. For Americans more than most other people, I think, a visit to other parts of the world has all of that, in addition to the lure of the old.
On a recent trip to Spain, I was as drawn as anyone to the older sections of Madrid and the small towns of the countryside. The twisting streets only fit for walking, the weathered, time-etched churches, the trendy new shops and bars housed in buildings raised when America was still a young nation all seemed to cast a sort of spell. I was moved by the almost untouched wilderness of the Gredos Mountains, through which Celts, Romans, kings and conquistadors alike marched without the land even seeming to notice their passage. I was impressed by the generosity and friendliness of all the Spaniards (and Portugese) that I met.
However, as much as I loved traveling to Spain, and as much fun as I had, no moment gave me quite the rush of emotion as the feel of the plane’s wheels leaving the ground when I began my journey home.
It’s not because I had difficulty speaking the language that I looked forward to going home, nor was it due to simple unfamiliarity with the country. It wasn’t due to the different food, either. On the contrary, the challenges of getting along in a foreign land were exciting and entertaining, to me as well as many of the Spaniards with whom I conversed. My mime repertoire has expanded to the point where moving to New York City, painting my face white, and doing the “Stuck in a Box” and “Walking Against the Wind” routines for donations is now a fallback career choice.
I once had to mime gettng a blister to a clerk at a pharmacy while looking for bandages. Walking all over a city is hard work. When I needed to wash clothes, I stunned several life-long Madrid residents by finding (traveling via bus and sore feet) a self-serve landromat -- a thing which few Madrilenos had supposed even existed in their city. As for the food, I nearly bought a whole pig’s leg to bring home, so I wouldn’t miss the jamon serrano too soon. I’m sure my fellow passengers wouldn’t have minded my boarding the plane with a pig’s leg slung over my shoulder like Errol Flynn carrying a deer in ''Robin Hood.''
As exciting and different as other places in the world might be -- and they are -- I will always only have one home, and that’s the USA. Here is the place generations of my fellow-countrymen struggled to reach, to seize the opportunities offered -- then and now -- by life in America. I loved traveling to Spain, and look forward to seeing other parts of Europe and the rest of the world, but I know that I’ll always be eager to return home, where I belong by choice.
With the world to choose from, I choose this place. I wouldn’t condemn my descendants to retrace the journey my ancestors were forced to take by high taxes, struggling economies, and oppressive governments -- all of which still exist in the places they fled, though the names have changed.
I met some Americans eager to apply for dual citizenship and move to Europe, drawn by the older, different culture and atmosphere. That’s their decision, but could not be mine. I met even more Spaniards, however, who seemed eager to learn about and even come to America--especially after my setting the record straight on all too many issues upon which they’ve been misled.
When our liberals tell us that all Europeans hate us, I have to wonder whether they simply hate watching Americans bashing their own country in order to curry favor with foreigners. For too long their only sources of information about this country have been liberal movies, liberal newspapers, and liberal visitors, all of which frequently disparage and deride the American culture and people.
As the Internet culture continues to gain ground overseas, we will be able to exchange more information without the filters that have been in place for so long. The days of liberal information control will finally come to an end, as long as we keep the United Nations from taking control of the Internet. And I couldn’t be happier to throw a few spadefuls of earth on the grave of leftist disinformation from time to time, simply by not hesitating to speak my mind.
About the Writer: Joe Mariani is a computer consultant and freelance writer who lives in Pennsylvania.
Ellie