Travel Non Sense

Lately, I am worried not of stuff being taken out of my bag, but of stuff being put in..

The check in at our airports is done at gut level. Literally . The passport and boarding pass are carefully matched but nobody ever looks up to see you eyes. Last week I found myself on board with my mother's passport in hand.. We both went through all check points with each other passport, switched by mistake. True, she is only 25 years older and looks better than me.
But still.

All the Manhattan busses carry a large American flag on their back window. Nobody seems to notice or care that the Stars are placed on the right corner of the Stripes. And I saw the same flag on the uniforms of our army - noted in "Lions for Lambs."
Another coup of Chinese creativity. And American nonchalance.

After so many years I am still baffled by the Inbound and Outbound directions of the Boston subway system. Inbound and Outbound to what ? Such notions are just point of views not geographical markers.

The West Delta Bus posts a large "No smoking" sign on board. But the driver finishes up a pack of Cleopatra's by the time we are out of Alexandria. We the passengers are in just for the ride,
I guess.

In Humanitas bookstore in Sibiu I fail to find Rilke's poems., or even the poetry section for that matter. After a while I realize to my dismay that the books are set up at a whim, under no law of subject matter or alphabet....As a correct American that I have become I complaint enthusiastically to the front clerk - "true there is no order, but looking for something you may find something else that you never knew existed !" Touche.

Letters to my sons

I can not give you any riches. The only gifts I have are my memories. They are my life.
And so are you. Part of my living dream through America. After so many years, I still dream
in Romanian, converse in German, and write in English. I am suspended in time, between lands and nations. I only know the geography of my heart. I feel mostly American though, caught in the mirage of freedom, a freedom given to me by this country that is so misunderstood, so free and so unaware of its own power and ability to change the world. For the better.

Our life goes around in circles , and so does history. But the Americans resist any learning experiences. They think the world can bend along our thoughts and intentions.
Like trees in the wind.

Today is Veterans' Day. The morning News showed a group of veterans, beautifully dressed in their crisp uniforms, waiting patiently in the Gillette Stadium to meet some Patriots players. They were none. Not by their fault . The office announced the media of the "no show", but they just forgot to tell the soldiers about it. When my Marine son deployed in Iraq for the third time asked California's Governor office for a state flag for their Anbar base, the reply came quickly "sorry we can not send a flag but you may purchase one at the office gift shop." A woman's voice at NPR tells the story of her son, returned from Iraq in 2004 with post traumatic disorder, he is refused any meaningful treatment and kills himself a year later....I feel like dying myself.
Of shame and sadness. The day is already tired.