 Prosperity and America By Glen WILLARD |
I returned from a trip to Atlanta, Georgia on December 15th. It was my first trip to the USA in almost two years. The visit included a short side trip to Orlando, Florida to visit my mother. The purpose of my trip was partly for family reasons and partly to acquire sufficient seminar credits to maintain my status as an active practicing (or capable of practicing) lawyer through the year 2004. I've been a member of the Georgia Bar since 1974 and of the Tennessee Bar since 1968. Most of my legal career had been spent in Atlanta and I've called that great city home since 1969.
A conversation with an English friend just prior to leaving for the States elicited comments from him that informed me that my visit would be a real surprise to me. While I can't remember sufficient to quote him, the gist was that the States had changed in some manner (or to such a degree) so that I would be surprised... that it would be different in some way that I would not recognize. I told him at the time that I didn't think this would be the case (I would be surprised if I were surprised.)
Now my English friend regularly visits the States. He is well-traveled and is an astute and intelligent businessman. I respect his opinions. But on returning to my Kyiv home, I remain perplexed as to what he had observed... what he had meant.
During my visit I had the opportunity to visit not only family but also a number of old friends, fellow lawyers, former business partners and other associates and some plain "just old buddies". With all, I discussed my English friends comments. No one had the foggiest notion of what he could have meant. The topic did offer time for ample and fairly lively discussion and led to much conversation about our country and its mood.
Now these friends and associates range much in status in life and in political perspective. And I can assure you Readers that status in life (whether wealthy and very comfortable from an economic standpoint or much less so) and in political perspective bears little relationship to Americans' views as best I can tell.
And we discussed many things. Politics (Bush, the Iraq War, marriage [yes, with the civil ceremony/real marriage/gay rights conundrum, marriage is a political subject], the coming presidential election, etc.). Economics (interest rates, home mortgages and equity values, the budget and debt [U.S. and the States], taxes, etc.) Even our "way of life".
To describe these friends further: they include real estate developers, a television director, a book editor and publisher, bartenders and waitresses I've known more than 20 years, a bank director, a trustee of a major U.S. university and even a semi-retired, self-confessed crackpot and agitator. Their political perspectives, needless to say vary: republicans, democrats, pro and anti George Bush, war and peace, Europe, Islam and so on. As I said, no one had the foggiest notion as to what my English friend meant.
I will report my impressions from my trip. While it never fails to impress, this trip, even more than in the past I was struck again...overwhelmed really, at the great wealth America and Americans have.
My oldest daughter lives in a modest home in a very nice, tree- filled neighborhood on a quite street that ends in a small cul-de-sac. The house only has 3 bedrooms, but it does have 2 large dens, an extra large living room with a fireplace and a separate dining room. Plus there is a front porch across a good portion of the house and a large wooden deck filled with deck furniture and an outdoor grill in the back. The front yard and fenced-in back yard are not large but do require the usual complement of lawn equipment for mowing, hedging and gardening. Two recent model vehicles (a van and an SUV) occupy the driveway along with the bass boat with plenty of room for 2-3 other vehicles to park. For Stacy and husband John, the addition of daughter Caroline two years ago necessitates thinking of possibly a larger home. You see, the maybe 1600-1700 sq. ft. (148-158 sq. m) home may now not be large enough for their family of three.
My daughter and her family are typical of modest income people. The home includes most modern appliances and all the gadgets one could want. The fact that they have 4 televisions, a computer with a bunch of peripherals (forgot, that sits in John's office not previously mentioned) and a regulation billiard table perhaps does create some overcrowding.
Now a quick Google, first article I click on, indicates the average home size in the U.S. has grown from 1500-1600 sq. ft in 1964 to: "in the past 34 years to over 2000 sq. ft. now". Now if that article is correct this means the average size of a home in the States today exceeds 185 square meters.
And I remember, I owned a two-story 2700 sq. ft. townhouse a few years back. Now I admit I had enough room. I lived alone except when the "semi-retired, self-confessed crackpot and agitator" referred to above bunked in. Even when the occasional female visitor stayed overnight we didn't seem crowded for room. The 4 TV's, the multi, multi station cable, the stereo sound rooms (not to mention the floor to ceiling bedroom mirrors) kept us entertained. The 3 full and one-half bathroom facilities seemed adequate to our needs. I also supported another 3000 sq. ft. plus home in a trendy neighborhood with a fine zip code address. The Mercedes complemented the other 4 automobiles (3 mostly new except for one super old camping van). The 41-foot Morgan sailing vessel maintained in Miami was a luxury. I drew what would be considered a moderate salary from my law firm.
There is a poor side to America. An unconscionable percentage of people live below our poverty line. Now note I said, our poverty line. Most of the developed world's citizens could live adequately on our poverty line. Note the developed.
Now I say all this not to brag. My thoughts and words and my observations are occasioned by the comment prior to my visit by my English friend.
But what of our soul, our way of life. Are we satisfied really? Is there not something missing? Are we not an unhappy bunch of people? Well no, I don't think so. We do perpetually gripe. We complain about our jobs, being overworked, underpaid. We want more vacation, more time for relaxation. But in these things are we not like our European as well as other countries' counterparts?
Are Americans living in fear after 9/11? Are they stockpiling gas masks and duct-tape? No. Clearly not. Do they remember 9/11? Yes, mostly. But that remembrance drives no real fear. The changes that have altered some minor aspects of life seem rather stoically accepted.
I know Americans who, when they after enough time qualify for 3 weeks vacation...and have trouble using it. They become anxious to get back to work. To be back on the job with their friends. They miss the hustle and bustle, the challenge, the gossip that passes for conversation. This seems usual and unchanged to me.
And Americans on the whole are happily ignorant. The Europeans and others are right. They mostly don't give a "tinker's dam" about the rest of the world. Few have passports. Many do have a yearning to see the ancient ruins of civilization, to visit the beautiful and historic cities of Europe and the world, to find and observe "real" culture. That is, after they've been to Disney World.
Many have traveled in the United States. They've seen the aurora borealis on a Montana night, the Grand Canyon, the beauty of the Rockies, Appalachians, the Alleghenies and other mountain ranges. They've been to the seashores from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico; seen the rolling fields of corn and wheat that stretch the great Midwest; been to the Everglades of Florida and other great swamps in Louisiana and Georgia; fell in love with the marshes of Glynn famed of the poet Sidney Lanier; the Black Canyon of the Gunnison; the great salt flats of Utah. And moreover, the entire vastness, openness and majesty that exists from seashore to seashore, not to mention Alaska and Hawaii. And much, I mean, much more. And when they get older and have more time they will visit elsewhere. To Europe maybe, even Paris, France...maybe. That is, unless the grandkids haven't been to Disney.
Those most traveled of Americans are soldiers. For most of 50 plus years past about 400 thousand rotated but remained on foreign soil. In Europe, in Japan and in Korea and many other places in smaller numbers. Sometimes these visits have not been pleasant, rather inhospitable really (about 120 thousand dead between Vietnam and Korea, and more than a few families have been effected). Now we have more soldiers in another inhospitable place.
If the world understood Americans, they would understand that Americans do not like war. We fiercely debated and still debate the merits and need for the current one. We hate war. Our natural inclination is isolationist. Americans want more than anything to be left alone.
But, we are a major player in these global environs. From this there is no escape. We have our own security requirements too.
Our soldiers will return someday soon from this current war although "soon" will be years in terms of involvement. And may our soldiers then remain home. Pray so. But, we know that is not likely.
Let the world debate. Let those who debate decide something. Some time, somewhere. Decide something. Negotiate. Debate. Keep it up. Peace will be found in a rucksack somewhere in Brussels or in New York at the United Nations building or... in a hole in the ground.
In the meantime we Americans will go on doing what we really do best.
We prosper.
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Read also previous issue' articles:
What it Was, Was Football
An American in Perish
The Baseball Way to Pleasure and Wisdom
What a Fine Mess
At My Table
The King is Gone- and So are You
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