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| Here I'm at Berlin's Reichstag |
Earth—This planet we inhabit is quickly getting
incredibly smaller. We travel where we
please easier than ever despite the thieves and thugs of the TSA. When we can’t travel we make wonderful free video calls
to our friends even internationally via Skype.com and can send e-mail.
I’m blessed with incredibly
wonderful friends here in the USA, Europe and even India.
All of my friendships are threatened simply because because life itself is fragile. Many of my friends have left me for the
hereafter. Many died way too young.
I’m in reasonably good health
despite the reality that time is marching and I can’t reverse the aging
process.
I’ve been both blessed and
cursed with more excitement in my life than most people will ever see. Surviving a life changing shooting in 1987
and a career that brought me face to face with horrible violence, injustice,
tyranny and some really wonderful experiences. I'm by nature an
I have had to come to grips
with my taking the wrong career direction as a young man. After my stint as an Army medical corpsman I
should have tackled medical school and not surrendered to a fear of advanced
mathematics. I had no parents to help
me overcome the difficult financial issues associated with that kind of an education.
Life has thrown me some curve
balls and fortunately I’ve not yet struck out.
I’m still carefully watching the ball.
I do regret returning to the USA
to live after my incredible military obligation and love for life in Germany. Those 18 months in Europe were truly the best times of
my life. I learned about kindness, art,
music, and some incredibly elegant women.
The United States has deteriorated dramatically. People are only knowledgeable about inane pop culture crap, video games and reality TV. Kindness here has all but disappeared, being replaced with suspicion, divisiveness and even hate. As for elegance one need only check out the customers shopping at any local WalMart. I can remember when people dressed up to go see a movie but not anymore.
My politics all but make me
an anarchist. I’m not fond of the heavy
hand of government. I’ve always resented
authority and particularly those laws or regulations designed to protect me from
myself. I’m unhappy to see more and more
of our hard won freedom stolen by politicians.
I don’t know what adventures
or romances lay ahead for me. Everyday
is a new day and I must only look forward.
There is no going backward. We
don’t get to relive our lives and correct our mistakes.
All I know is that without my
friends my life would be worthless and unbearable. For all of those wonderful people that have been kind
to me or befriended me I have two words, thank you.
9 comments:
Wow, this was succinct, powerful, honest. as an expat lib ing in Europe, this gives me more concern for ever returning to the US to live. . . .
Excellent and yes, good friends are crucial in this harsher than ever world.
Thanks for this,
Teri
Dear Paul, it seems to me that your stay in Germany has happened a long time ago. Plese be reassured that Germany is as socialist a rathole as the entire EUSSR. You love freedom? Then keep out of this Germany, which, in many aspects, has revived NS-legislation for example on weapons, privacy (They can do things in eavesdropping now legally for which the GeStaPa had to break laws) and, last but not least, healthcare. I would not exactly prefer the US of A, but I am preparing to get out of here ASAP.
Wow, this was succinct, powerful, honest. as an expat living in Europe, this gives me more concern about ever returning to the US to live. . . .
Excellent perspective and yes, good friends are crucial in this harsher than ever world.
Thanks for this raw, sad post,
Teri
Paul,
I first learned of the injustice of Debra Milke's conviction through your splendid work, and through your work ever hovering in the background, I am confident that she will eventually be exonerated.
If you had gone to medical school you would have only affected one life at a time. Through your work exposing the criminality of Noel Levy and Armando Saldate -- not to mention the incompetence of Judge Hendrix and certain appellate judges -- you have affected the lives of millions of Americans, many not yet born. You have shown that evil exists. It exists not just in Arizona and Maricopa but everywhere. Until laws are in place where evil prosecutors are subject to harsh criminal penalties for withholding exculpatory evidence (e.g., Levy should serve equal time that Debra has unjustly served), your work is not done. Keep it up!
Oh, I am a retired Air Force officer and an aerospace engineer. I have a little joke for you. When freshmen start college, they all want to be physicians or engineers -- until they bump into organic chemistry and differential equations! Then, they decide to go to much less-challenging law schools. Look at every lawyer you meet and know. Everyone of them is a washout from engineering or pre med.
During period of April 2011 and April 2012 I've had a contract in Dresden working for Linde. After working twelve years in California,other years in Canada, Kuwait, South Africa, I've found the best place I have been on all aspects. Opera, classical music, people so gentile. The accusation that Germany is so socialist is so irrelevant because Germany is a very advanced capitalist country. Life in USA is just a two-way street,Germany is a pallet of colors.It determined me to return to Europe where I live since 2008. Few understand the difference but I've heard Americans saying they will never return to the USA!Amercia is good but there is better than that in my account..
Mazari is correct, America is great, but, there are also many countries that are great too each has its bad sides. For example, look at New York City? Some love it, and cannot live any where else? I can only take it in small doses of one weekend during May or September. More than ten millions are stuck in there! Once, you get exposure to other places, like California, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, .... You have to crazy to want to be part of the rat race in this concrete jungle.
Dear Paul,
Great points. Most Americans, even or more specifically college grads, seem to view America through the John Wayne Movie meme --- the USA good, everyone else either bad or inferior and want to come here. Not so fast kimosabe. Europeans stopped coming in the '50s. And the only reason they came was because Europe had been destroyed by their "leaders". You're right on all points. Our "leaders" have destroyed the this country in every way
One thing about the Germans that has always impressed me is their determination to look at things from the standpoint of their Volk, and then take action. What they accomplished from 1989 through 1992, namely the overthrow of both communism and the WWII derived Allied 4-power control regime that seemed to have become a permanent feature of German political life, is unmatched by any other country in the post-Cold War era. It is true, however, that the Bundesrepublik bears a number of irksome political traits, most of which stem from the above-mentioned Allied control regime. Nevertheless, of all the countries of the EU and NATO, Germany has been conspicuous in its willingness to take issue with the US. This, of course, cause anger with the American political establishment, which has had almost 70 years of lording it over "defeated Germany." If the Snowden revelations are to have any particularly far-reaching effects, it will be in Germany, which alone of the European countries has felt aggrieved by what the NSA has done.
Paul -
Be Well
Breath
Love
Move
Eat Well
Sleep Well
Exercise Well.
Thanks to you for your love of looking
for the truth, and not being afraid to display it
in the press, even if some feathers may be ruffled.
Now that is rare - and that is truly elegant!
Say No More.
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