by Madeleine KandoThe funny thing about traveling is that you see things from a different perspective when you come home. I know my husband will be faithfully waiting there to pick me up at Boston’s Logan Airport to drive me home.
Is he going to look different? Will I look different to him, after our two week separation? It is as if I have borrowed someone else’s glasses for the first few minutes of our reunification. He looks… well, actually he looks terrific. I forgot how handsome he really is, my husband. Yes, I know, he has grey sideburns, his hips aren’t as narrow as they used to be. But I see him now through the eyes of the other tired passengers who watch us embrace, watch us walk off to the parking lot arm in arm, like new-found lovers.
Yes, it’s nice to go away. You come back with a fresh look on things.
When we first step out of the terminal, depending on which season it is, I get hit with a blast of humid, suffocatingly hot air. Either that, or a snow blizzard. I almost prefer the blizzard. It’s so… New England, you know.
In August, the humidity and heat of the summer has sucked every last drop of moisture and life out of the city of Boston. You can hear the heat hum in your ears, like a furnace. The asphalt on the road is melting and it feels like I am walking on marshmallows. When we get to the car, we have to turn on the air-conditioner for a few minutes, before we get in. It would be like walking into an oven.
As we drive home, I am suddenly aware of how abysmal the road conditions are. Only a few hours ago, I was driving on the Dutch highway system on my way to Schiphol airport. Not a single pothole, bump, scratch or blemish. How can Holland afford such a perfect road system?
How can America put up with such a rundown infrastructure? Isn’t America supposedly the richest country in the World?
How important to the health of a nation is its infrastructure? Just as a body’s circulatory system, nervous system and skeletal system is vital to one’s health, so too is the nation’s infrastructure vital to the healthy functioning of society.
I know you can repair tires, you can bury the dead after a bridge falls down, you can privatize law enforcement to replace a police force. If you have a car you can drive to the nearest forest instead of the park so that your dog can poo. But is that a good way to live?
These are the thoughts that race through my head as we drive home, trying to avoid bumps and unrepaired cracks. But, as usual, after a few days, I look at things with resignation and apathy. Gone are the borrowed glasses.
It’s sad to admit that I look forward to my next trip to Holland just so I can enjoy roads without potholes. So I don’t hold my breath every time I have to cross a bridge. Still, a little voice in me always asks the same question as I read about our activities in far-away, exotic places, like Afghanistan and Iraq: ‘Why aren’t we taking care of our own backyard instead?’ leave comment here
3 comments:
Netherlands are richer than the U.S.according to the world bank, ImF amd CIA World Factbook. Read all about it here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita
So, next time some bloviator tells you how "Old Europe's Entitlement Society" is dragging Europe down the tubes, give 'em heck. Or better yet, just smile to yourself and feel superior.
Yes, of course Holland is richer, smaller, better maintained, and.. has no army to speak of, so obviously all their tax money can go to their beautiful infrastructure. Smart: let others fight your battles for you.
I agree with anonymous.
It may not be right, to compare Holland and the US. There are vast parts of Europe (for example, the PIG countries - Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, not to mention Eastern Europe) that are in much worse shape than the US. And there are areas in the US that are as well off as Holland (say, Marin County, Connecticut, some parts of Texas, etc.) You can take some small countries such as Switzerland, Norway, Luxembourg, and show that they are better off than the US. But they don’t represent all of Europe.
This is not to say that America shouldn't watch itself. I fully agree with Madeleine that America has been squandering its wealth foolishly for a long time. On foreign adventures based on misguided idealism, for one thing. I have long said that American Imperialism is imperialism in reverse: Americans pay (in blood and money) for the right to interfere in other countries' affairs.
As Madeleine writes, why don’t we take care of our own backyard instead? We neglect our infrastructure, our education, our sick, our unemployed. Are we masochists or what?
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