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Lair Davis (Our Man in Costa Rica) |
| December 17, 2004 |
This & That in the Morning The world is not really such a large place. And it is getting smaller all the time. It is the population that is getting larger. Too many people for a very small planet. And they whine about traffic jams and crowds, and then go home and breed some more. They will never learn, it seems. Ah! — but the world will teach them anyway! ………… The environmental and directly related medical costs to the state and individuals resulting from use of the automobile are much greater than those associated with tobacco use. Anyone want to ban driving? I didn’t think so. Most people have become as addicted to gasoline as I used to be to nicotine. ………… I traveled to the border between San Ysidro and Tijuana — the border between the United States and Mexico — and looked, and looked and looked — and there was nothing there! Nothing but a fence that some men assembled to separate me from all the “others” — and “them” from me. How can I be proud to be a citizen of the United States? Grateful, certainly! Absolutely! Thankful for my good fortune. But, c’mon! There is really nothing that separates me from all the other people in the world except some imaginary lines — man-made fences. ………… When I lived in San Diego, I was a member of the largest minority in the state. There are more members of this minority than there are Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, gay men and lesbians, physically and developmentally disabled individuals, and all the other “minorities” combined! Yet they have no representation in government or among policymakers. Nada! Zip! Absolutely no one! If you counted every elected official in the state of California, including school board and water district trustees, perhaps you might find five renters among them — perhaps! Everyone in California appears to be so resigned to the rising costs of rental housing. Few even bother to give lip service to the issue, yet it is as critical a factor in the quality of life for Californians as any. I came to the conclusion that the only solution to the dilemma of affordable housing in California was to leave. Let “them” wash their own cars, clean their own homes, flip their own burgers, sharpen their own pencils and type their own letters. I no longer cared to continue to lose ground to the cost of living in California despite the fact that I received routinely the highest salary increases any employer could reasonably be expected to give. I no longer was willing to subsidize the care of children of irresponsible parents even though I bear absolutely no responsibility for the little buggers. I decided to stop subsidizing their transportation to childcare so that both their parents could work in order to afford to own two cars. When I retired, I left California with no regrets and moved to Central America, which (no matter what provincial folks in the United States might think) is much safer, just as beautiful, and far, far more affordable than the tarnished Golden State. ………… Why do I love Costa Rica? It is beautiful, yes, and the climate is delightful. The people are warm-hearted and welcoming. Sounds much like San Diego, doesn’t it? Here is the difference (I do not know the source of this quote, but I am certain of its accuracy): “A country without an army in a world that counts tanks and missiles and nuclear warheads as the measure of a nation’s strength. Where the national hero is not a general but a young, barefoot peasant boy. Where schoolchildren, not soldiers, parade on Independence Day. A country that abolished the death penalty one hundred years ago, while other countries still debate the issue.” |
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(6.25)
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Col 2 (7.02) |
Col 3 (7.09) |
Col 4 (7.16) |
Col 5 (7.23) |
Col 6
(7.30) |
Col 7
(8.06) |
(8.13)
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(8.20)
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(8.27)
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(9.03)
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(9.10)
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(9.17)
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(9.24)
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(10.01)
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(10.08)
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(10.15)
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(10.22)
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(10.29)
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(11.05)
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(11.12)
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Col 22 (11.19) |
(11.26)
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(12.3)
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(12.10)
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