Many are quite poignant and timely. Some are quite educational and eye-opening. Most are just blatant requests for more campaign contributions. My wife and I give small amounts to the causes we support – and that includes the president’s campaign – but we’re rarely swayed by any advertisements or pleas we get by email.

On the other hand, I just got an email from the president a few minutes ago. Whether he personally wrote it or not is a non-issue. I know it’s in his words and expresses exactly how he feels. My wife and I saw him on TV earlier today using almost the same words in his announcement to the nation. This is an important and history making statement that everyone should read. His announcement today is another major step toward full civil rights in this country – and long overdue.

Remember this day.

Here’s his email:

John –

Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer:

I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I hope you’ll take a moment to watch the conversation, consider it, and weigh in yourself on behalf of marriage equality:

http://my.barackobama.com/Marriage

I’ve always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. I was reluctant to use the term marriage because of the very powerful traditions it evokes. And I thought civil union laws that conferred legal rights upon gay and lesbian couples were a solution.

But over the course of several years I’ve talked to friends and family about this. I’ve thought about members of my staff in long-term, committed, same-sex relationships who are raising kids together. Through our efforts to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, I’ve gotten to know some of the gay and lesbian troops who are serving our country with honor and distinction.

What I’ve come to realize is that for loving, same-sex couples, the denial of marriage equality means that, in their eyes and the eyes of their children, they are still considered less than full citizens.

Even at my own dinner table, when I look at Sasha and Malia, who have friends whose parents are same-sex couples, I know it wouldn’t dawn on them that their friends’ parents should be treated differently.

So I decided it was time to affirm my personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I respect the beliefs of others, and the right of religious institutions to act in accordance with their own doctrines. But I believe that in the eyes of the law, all Americans should be treated equally. And where states enact same-sex marriage, no federal act should invalidate them.

If you agree, you can stand up with me here.

Thank you,

Barack

President Obama – My wife and I stand with you on this. Thank you for having the courage to come out and make your position known to the world. I know that you did it because you knew it was the right thing to do. It was the only right thing to do.

You may lose some votes in November because you’ve taken this stand. You may lose some support in Congress because you’ve finally removed all doubt about where you stand on the issue of Civil Rights. I know that you believe that Civil Rights should apply to all persons – not just blacks, Hispanics, Asians, or any other ethnic or racial class of people. Civil Rights should apply to everyone including the disabled, veterans, homosexuals, atheists, and yes – even women!

You will face a lot of opposition on this. That’s OK. You know that you’re right and they’re wrong. History will vindicate you no matter what happens in the coming election. With this one decision – this one announcement – in my book you’ve earned your place as not only one of the “great presidents of all time,” but potentially one of the “great men” in history. I doubt if the importance of what you’ve said will be fully recognized in my lifetime, but I’m sure that my grandchildren will think of you the way I think of President Kennedy, the way my parents thought of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the way my grandparents thought of President Lincoln.

Let’s face it. All you had to do to join that pantheon of historic human beings was to simply do the right thing. You took a stand for freedom and equality so that all American citizens can actually live free. That was the promise of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. Until now, that promise was mostly a hollow one. You’ve changed that.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you…

We all know about New York City. It’s in front of us in the media every day. It’s a part of commercials, morning shows, nightly news, entertainment stars, sports stars, magazine ads, and sadly, 9/11. We know New York as the center of everything… it’s the so-called “Greatest City in the World.” I had only been there once before. That was twenty years ago, and my memory of it was fuzzy good.

If you spend just four nights in New York City now, like my wife and I and a couple who are our close friends did on a boondoggle trip weekend before last, you come away with the feeling that you have seen a great deal of what is good and important in America. This time, I also saw a little of what is not.

We approached the Newark airport at almost five-thirty in the afternoon on Thursday. It was dark, and Manhattan Island looked like a sparkling wonderland across the Hudson River in the distance.

Flying from Alaska to New York is no small journey, but we were drawn there by an unexpected connection. A family friend, the daughter-in-law of our traveling companions, had been selected to dance in the chorus line of the Rockettes this year in their annual Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall. Blair Chenoweth Robinson, who was Miss Alaska in 2005 and Miss Alaska USA in 2007, is a professional dancer and proud product of the 49th State. She had just landed the biggest gig of her life.

My wife and I and our friends have all lived in Alaska for forty years…and we can’t see Russia from our houses. We are not wide-eyed backwoods people, and in fact are frequent and experienced travelers. I was wide-eyed the first time I visited Manhattan, but this time I experienced real life on this crowded island with millions of other people.

Making the “Ugly” Fun – The Theme from our Apartment

Our arrival began with a thud. Beware of vacation rentals by owners!

On one of the busiest weekends of the year, we were unable to find a decent hotel room for under four hundred dollars a night per couple. We didn’t realize we were planning our trip on a “tree lighting” and “shopping” weekend in Manhattan.

Using the internet, we found a vacation rental by an owner for a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment on West 47th Street – right in the heart of the Theater District in Manhattan – for a little over four hundred dollars a night.  The internet pictures looked fine – certainly not luxurious, but fine.  The fact that they wanted seventeen-hundred dollars in cash or a cashier’s check up front should have told us something.

Renting an apartment in New York City…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT54OxWsWw8

Arriving at our “home away from home,” we discovered that it was in a less than shiny part of West 47th Street.  As we climbed up the narrow, poorly lit, rickety stairway (no elevator here!) in the ancient building, we were hit with the overwhelming smell of marijuana. I looked up the stairwell as far as I could see, and thanked the gods that our apartment was on the second floor.

Reality began to set in when we opened the door. One of the first things I noticed was the tiny refrigerator leaning against the wall. As we explored the place, we discovered that the promised third bedroom (which we actually didn’t need) was just an alcove with a bed stuffed into it that filled the entire space. I pity the next renter who actually needs a third bedroom.

The bathrooms were a special adventure. The bathtubs and sinks in both bathrooms did not have drain plugs in them. Our tub featured big rusted spots and bugs that crawled out of the drain in the night. There was a big hole in the wall next to it. I jokingly told my wife that the mice and rats used that hole to come out at night. She calmly replied that no self-respecting mouse or rat would live in the place.

The bathtub in the other bathroom would not drain, so our traveling companions had to use our bathtub for two days…the time it took to get someone to come by and unplug the drain.

When I entered the street-side bedroom that my wife and I were to use (our traveling companions outran us), I discovered that our bed was a mattress and box springs sitting on the floor. The nice internet picture of the bed showed it sitting on a frame. A cheap broken window shade was lying on the floor. When I tried to close the flimsy shear over that window, the thing fell on my head.

The ad described the apartment as being fully furnished with three queen sized beds. In fact, we had only one small garbage can, one garbage sack, and no cloth or paper towels in the kitchen. The TV only received a few local channels, and the “Internet hookup” never worked. There was no heat control in the place. It was unseasonably warm our first night, so we ran the in-window air conditioning unit all night to combat the heat coming into our bedroom. The next three nights were very cold, so we had to pack towels and pillows in the gaps around the two window air conditioning units to keep the cold air out.

Our contact, “Mo,” didn’t really seem to care about anything. Of the many things we asked for help with, the only one he repaired was the plugged bathtub…after two days.

By the way – the Internet listing for this place claims that the monthly rent is $5995!

So, how did we deal with it? We bought a six-pack of good beer, a couple of bottles of good wine, a bottle of good scotch…and laughed our way through it all! The reality was that we were all so tired by the time we got back every night that we could have slept on the floor. However, taking a shower in the light of day…that was a different story.

If this is an example of how the slumlords I have always heard about do their business (and the neighborhood looked like it has hundreds, if not thousands, of places like ours), I can understand how they get rich at other people’s expense. As I lamented to our friends, one good cleaning woman and a handyman with a six-foot ladder and two hundred dollars worth of supplies could turn it into a decent place in a couple hours.

Having been inundated with the glamor of New York for years, I found myself unprepared for its underside. There were piles of garbage everywhere off of the main streets. Thousands of dogs (or maybe hundreds of thousands of dogs?) were peeing on the only place they could – the sidewalks. We had to endure the odors of the dirty, crumbling neighborhoods located just a few short blocks from the high-profile, high-fashion areas we see featured in the media every day. For us this was a rude awakening about the other side of New York. I realize that all large cities have their seamy sides, and I know this was not even the worst of what we could have seen in New York – but it was still surprising to me.

It all got better. In spite of our rough start, I did not intend for this article to be a put-down of New York City. It really is one of the most fascinating cities in the world.

The Food

Manhattan assaults the senses in many ways, and the attack began the first night when our beautiful Rockette hostess took us on a culinary excursion. It began at a funky little restaurant tucked into a small, narrow space in an old building – like many other New York restaurants. It was loud, glitzy, and fun – and the food was great. It was also a good place for me to condition myself to the eclectic mix of people we would see over the next four days. There just aren’t that many places in Anchorage, Alaska where you’ll see two men sitting in a booth, holding hands, and looking dreamily into each other’s eyes. That is not a social comment – it’s just a fact.

On Friday, we hiked from the Financial District to Katz Delicatessen in the Lower East Side for a late lunch. Opened in 1888, and advertised as the oldest and best deli in New York, it lived up to its billing. It is also the place where Meg Ryan did her famous faked orgasm in the movie, “When Harry Met Sally” (I’ll have what she’s having!) Diners packed the place at two o’clock in the afternoon. The line of people in line to pay their bill wound to the back of the large dining area. Our rewards for being patient (and our rapidly growing recognition of the push-your-way-in New York mentality) were five-inch tall hot pastrami sandwiches too big for one person to eat.

We followed that lunch with a wonderful dinner that night at Carmine’s in the Theater District – a big, noisy, happy, family friendly Italian restaurant. That was probably the best of the several great meals we had. Running a close second the next night was “Brazil Brazil,” a restaurant we stumbled into out of a cold rain as we searched for a dinner spot near our apartment.

Ah, Sunday! Sunday…football and big screens, dozens of them. While the women took the subway to Wall Street to visit another high achieving beautiful young woman friend from Alaska, the men hit the ESPN Zone. The Bloody Mary’s were great, every football game being played was available somewhere in the building, and the crowd was raucous – particularly when the one o’clock games started and the guy running the control room went to the bathroom and left bowling on the main screen. We couldn’t help but laugh as the bartender stood in front of us yelling, “Football, football,” at the empty control room.

The Entertainment

Saturday was our day to see the matinée performance of the Rockettes Radio City Christmas Spectacular. It truly was spectacular, and, like all the rest of the Rockettes, our girl was flawless. The show begins with a wonderful 3D trip on the back of Santa’s Sled, and continues to feature amazing digital special effects using one of the largest floating LCD screens in the US. An actual motorized, double-decker bus with the Rockettes on it, travels throughout the city, displayed on the huge screen in amazing detail. I loved the history and precision of the “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.”  Everything is entertaining, and the Rockettes are beautiful and precise.

2009 Rockettes: “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utq-vTQhhI0

After the show, Alaska’s only Rockette treated us to a backstage tour, and we got to pet one of the two camels that were part of the lead-in to the Nativity Scene.

On Sunday, we had tickets for Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theater, which features the lives and music of The Four Seasons and their star lead singer, Frankie Valli. For me, it was a trip back in time. The music was wonderful and the performers were outstanding. The show was surprisingly adult as it took us through their meteoric rise out of obscurity in New Jersey, their clumsy fall, and their eventual recovery, all accompanied by their hit songs. If you like great music, and if you had a pulse in the 1960’s, you would love this.

The Sights

Ground Zero was on my radar screen from the first day we decided to make this trip. As they say, there are a few events that will live in our memories forever…J.F.K’s assassination, the Challenger disaster, and 9/11 for me.

I also felt drawn to visit the World Trade Center site because my wife and I had gone to the top of the Twin Towers to have a drink and take in the view the first time we visited New York. As I walked around the construction area for the new Freedom Tower, I couldn’t help trying to imagine the hysteria, the fear, the grief, the shock and the heroism that had taken place there. I remembered how 9/11 changed the world forever.

We dressed for the weather with warm coats, gloves and umbrellas. From our apartment on West 47th Street, we walked or rode the subway everywhere.  Even though the streets and the subway were incredibly crowded, we always felt safe and confident. There are policemen at every corner, a tainted legacy of 9/11.

Pre-Christmas in New York City is a special time. On our last night we visited Rockefeller Center to see The Tree and took a carriage ride in Central Park. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to see everything. Maybe we’ll go back…and just pay the price for a hotel room.

How Starbucks Saved My Life:
A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else
by Michael Gates Gill

As I moved from table to table playing east/west, my opponents commented on the title, How Starbucks Saved My Life, with a wide range of observations and questions, although I had no idea what the book was about. Several hours later, I read the following promo on Amazon:

“In his fifties, Michael Gates Gill had it all: a mansion in the suburbs, a wife and loving children, a six-figure salary, and an Ivy League education. But in a few short years, he lost his job, got divorced, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. With no money or health insurance, he was forced to get a job at Starbucks. Having gone from power lunches to scrubbing toilets, from being served to serving, Michael was a true fish out of water.

“But fate brings an unexpected teacher into his life that opens his eyes to what living well really looks like. The two seem to have nothing in common: She is a young African American, the daughter of a drug addict; he is used to being the boss. but reports to her now. For the first time in his life he experiences being a member of a minority trying hard to survive in a challenging new job. He learns the value of hard work and humility, as well as what it truly means to respect another person

“Behind the scenes at one of America’s most intriguing businesses, an inspiring friendship is born, a family begins to heal, and, thanks to his unlikely mentor, Michael Gill at last experiences a sense of self-worth and happiness he has never known before.”

I must admit that this didn’t do too much for me, but I had the book and decided to at least read the first chapter. After doing so, I was hooked. It’s a unique, easy–to-read, not too “heavy” memoir about showing respect to others and the dignity of work. It’s relentlessly positive, inspirational, and well written; it brought tears to my eyes, although it may be because I’m an old white man too. Okay, it was a bit schmaltzy, bordering on corporate PR for Starbucks. But I liked the book very much.

After reading it, I decided to check out the Amazon reviews, which can often be as interesting as the book itself. Of the forty-five, the majority gave it accolades. However, two reviewers were less than gracious about the author, not the book, reporting: “Each chapter has a flash back of the author’s rich, arrogant life, with no reason or purpose, and he shamelessly name drops. While I gained a tremendous respect for Starbucks after reading the book, I have no regard for Michael Gates Gill.”

“Strange comments,” I thought, knowing you can’t please everyone. Yes, the book is a great testament about the culture at Starbucks. However, I liked Michael Gill. Sure, he was a pompous ass for most of his life, but in the end, he got it right. I have the feeling that most readers will feel the same way as I did. I know that’s how Tom Hanks assessed Mike, or at least that’s what his Starbucks’ partners called him.

How could you not like Mike, Crystal, or Kester? In fact, if someone would like to dislike a character in the book, how about Tawana? I suspect that Tom Hanks had the same likes and dislikes about these characters, because he just bought the rights to make the movie. Guess which of the characters he plans to play?

Promotional video for this book…

Editor’s Note: As Bob and Claire Rogers continue their amazing cycling trip, our attention has been focused on all things “Asian.” Chi Newman offered to let us publish this adaptation of her article that describes her recent trip to Taiwan. I’m sure that you will be amazed as she describes the changes there since she last visited this beautiful island off the east coast of mainland China. Click here to go to Chi’s original article…

In 1594 a Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan and dubbed it “Ilha Formosa,” which means “beautiful island.” Although Taiwan (formerly Formosa) has been part of the Chinese empire for a very long time, the aboriginal inhabitants are not even related to the Chinese, but came from the islands of the Pacific.

The Chinese only arrived in large numbers after 1600, when the Dutch East India Company established trading posts and forts on the island. After they defeated the Dutch in 1662, they gained control over the island and stayed until the end of the 19th century when the Japanese took over. They also left their mark on the island, remaining in control until after World War 2, when they were succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang.

How can I begin to write about my trip to Taiwan except to use the Portuguese word “Saudade”? “Saudade” is a word that envelopes so many emotions: nostalgia, longing, yearning, love, friendship, desire, etc. No other language has a word like it. Taiwan was once called “Formosa”, another Portuguese word which means “beautiful.”

I was last in Taiwan when my husband, Richard, served in Vietnam between 1968-1970. Our family was not allowed to go to Vietnam, so I went to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, with my two young children. We were 180 wives with no husbands.

Since then Taiwan has changed so much that I did not know the place, but all for the better. It is a wealthy and vibrant island with hard working, polite people. They especially stress the importance of a good education for its youth.

I wanted to see my older sister, Amy, because her third son Michael had written to tell me she had been ill. It had been many years since I last saw her, as well as her three sons and their families. I did not want to linger over my decision for fear I might change my mind. I booked my ticket and left four days later. None of my family members could go with me, so I was quite nervous about flying half-way around the world alone. I had never gone anywhere without Dick, even on short trips. I closed my mind and refused to think negative thoughts, especially about the typhoon that was pounding the southern part of the island causing devastation and death.

I finally arrived in Taipei on China Air Lines around 9 PM. I was on the road for over twenty hours and was so tired that I did not even remember when my nephew Michael picked up my luggage, or the drive to my sister’s apartment.

Amy had surgery last year. She was fine, although she still had some breathing problems and coughed constantly. It was wonderful to see her again, and we made up for lost time. It was especially exciting to be speaking Chinese. Amy had thought of everything to make me comfortable. She even gave me a cell phone to make overseas calls and pocket money to spend. She also had a full-time maid and a chauffeur.

The next night a French banquet was given in my honor so that I could meet the family and Amy’s close friends. I had forgotten about all the protocol – the exchanging of gifts and the toasting that was exchanged back and forth before the meal was served. The liquors of choice were mostly “Johnny Walker Blue” and “Chivas Royal Salute.” I sipped on my half glass of white wine while I noticed with admiration and total awe the amount of liquor being consumed. It brought back memories of when I was a child in Beijing, and the many banquets my parents hosted with their Mahjong games. My mother was considered the perfect hostess and could drink to and toast each guest throughout the long meal – but I never remember seeing her drunk. My sister certainly was as perfect a hostess as my mother.

While I was there, my oldest nephew Ricky, along with his wife and family, were vacationing in Massachusetts. Their three daughters have all graduated from the best schools in the United States and Europe. They were returning the day after I left Taiwan, so I was sorry to miss them. Amy took me to see their home located in Yangmingshan, a very exclusive area of Taipei. The houses and land there were amazing. The kitchens were equipped for either western or Chinese cuisines.

I took a tour of the manicured grounds and petted the three horses in their stables. Their youngest daughter now lives in Amsterdam and competes in horse shows in Europe. I was very impressed with everything.

My second nephew, Andy, is the CEO of several companies. He and his wife, Bonnie, have two children. Tiffany, who is 22, has a perfect figure, creamy white skin, and is very beautiful. I thought of Scarlett Johansson when I met her. She was leaving in two days to go to Hongkong and Shanghai to look for a job. She took me to the night market – a very popular tourist attraction. The market sold everything from shoes to trinkets and served every kind of food one could desire.Their son, Ian, is twelve. He told me he has too much homework, but it’s necessary because the education system is very competitive. Andy takes time on weekends to play tennis and be with his family, because during the week he spends many of his evenings  hosting overseas business guests. The whole family has luncheon and dinner together every Sunday.

Bonnie, my niece, and I had a delightful day together. She is very pretty and full of life. She speaks perfect English, and worked as an airline hostess for China Air Lines for seven years. She took me to a famous Chinese restaurant for lunch, where I ordered many dishes that I remembered from my childhood: drunken chicken, red-braised pork with skin that melts in your mouth, little steamed buns filled with pockets of succulent meat and juice, and specialty dishes from many provinces. These are called “Shia Fan” dishes, which means dishes that make the rice go down; they were so delicious, so well seasoned, so amazing that I wanted to remember the flavors forever. For desert, I ordered rice flour balls stuffed with black sesame paste.

She then took me to a massage parlor where I had an hour-long massage. I was totally satisfied with my day, but Bonnie had one more surprise for me. She was taking me to her favorite hair dresser to get my hair done. Before the girl washed my hair, I had another 15 or 20 minute massage of my head and shoulders. Bonnie was finally satisfied and I was ready to go home and take a long nap before the big dinner that night.

Michael, the youngest son, is an attorney-at-law for Baker and McKenzie. He is not married and lives close to Amy, so he came over every morning to have breakfast with us. What a charmer! I felt fortunate to see him so often. He is a gourmand and usually ordered the dishes and wines for the banquets and luncheons.

Michael and his friend, Gogi, who is a very well known fashion designer in Taipei, picked me up one Saturday morning and took me to the flower and jade market. I have never imagined so many variety of flowers, especially orchids. Then we went to the jade market, where I admired the great variety of jade, rings, pendants, and statues. These two markets are several blocks long and are only open on Saturdays and Sundays – during the week they are transformed into parking lots.

We also visited “Taipei 101,” the tallest building in the world. Visitors can watch the multimedia show before riding the world’s fastest elevator to the 89th floor. The elevator has a high pressurized speed of over a thousand meters per minute. The observatory is equipped with high power binoculars, drink bars, image services, and recorded multimedia guides in eight languages. Visitors can observe the detailed structure and the heaviest wind damper which weighs 660 metric tons. Looking out the window one can see all of Taipei and its famous landscape. To reach the 91st floor one must take the steps from the 89th floor. You will feel the strong winds and see up close the spire to the building’s 508 meters high sphere. You can watch a theater film that shows the building’s construction and last New Year’s celebration with a fireworks display which emanated from all parts of the towering structure.

View of the National Palace Museum from the top of Taipei 101…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhaaTViymUs

I also took a day-long tour of Taipei and surroundings with six other passengers – two from America, two from Australia, and one from Japan. We visited some of the must-see historical sights. The first was the Chiang Kai Shek memorial park. Around the park, a 1200 meter corridor is built. A Chinese window taking the form of a lantern is seen on the wall every 4.5 meters. There are two ponds that take up 3000 square meters. It is surrounded by stones and landscaped with artificial hills, stone-paved paths, and arched bridges. In the ponds a great number of bright-colored carp swim back and forth. With an area of 250,000 square meters, the Memorial Park is a paradise for animals, plants, and birds. One can see the butterflies flying among the flowers and bees busily collecting honey.

We then moved on to Chih Fu Temple. The main god of this Temple is the God of the Land, Taiwan’s most popular god. This god has evolved into human form and understands all the hardships of the human being. He has the power to influence people and is always ready to help when needed. He has a healthy face, silver hair, kind eyes and laughing lips. The day to worship the “God of Land” is called “Ya,” which means to “welcome fortune.” It is held on the second and the sixteenth days of the lunar month.

The best visit was saved for last – the National Palace Museum. It has a permanent collection of over 650,000 Chinese artifacts and other pieces of art – the largest collection in the world. In 2008 it was the world’s 15th most visited museum. In 2001 the museum underwent a major overhaul that cost $21 million, making it more spacious and modern. The displays are rotated once every three months. If you were to see all 650,000 pieces, it would take you more than twelve years.

Finally, my trip came to a close. I’m now back in Tucson with my loving family. I am again enjoying the glorious sunsets, the majestic mountains, and the quaint cacti. I will be playing tennis and duplicate bridge, cooking and baking, and enjoying the friends I love.

This simple life is good for my soul. I can truly say I would be satisfied if all my worldly goods consisted of a good tennis racket, a bridge table, an efficient stove, and a comfortable bed on which to lay my head.

I will always treasure my memories of Taipei and keep them stored in my heart to relive and savor: the distinctive food specialties of each province, the toasting before the banquets, the red envelopes with money for tipping, the gifts that are exchanged, and the protocol for each event.

I will also remember the kindness of my family and friends, the polite waitresses and service people in their neat uniforms, and the emphasis on education. I have fulfilled all of my senses – from the exotic fruits and vegetables, the variety of sea food, fowl and meat (especially the exceedingly tender and flavorful Kobe beef), the beauty of orchids and other strange flowers, and the exquisite art and paintings.

I was also very impressed that everyone spoke Mandarin, which has unified all the Chinese people.

What a journey! What a vacation! What memories!

Thank you, Taiwan.

Attention! Attention!

The French accent did not disguise the intent of the word our languages share from the Latin.

Whirrrrrr! Clunk! Clunk! Gone! The melon-sized rock, falling from a French Alp at terminal velocity, would have taken my head off had I not been fully attentive at that particular moment and hugged the vertical ice encrusted rock with the intensity of a lover.

Climbing vertical rock and ice has a way of acutely focusing your attention while releasing a delicious sense of aliveness.

A mid-life crisis in my early thirties sent me off to Europe to spend a summer trying to kill myself by doing obscenely difficult Alpine routes. With just a few climbs on a small rock in West Virginia under my belt, I somehow survived and learned one of my most valuable lessons: the value of attention to this life.

This seemingly basic concept of “attention” deserves a closer look.

[From Wikipedia:]
William James, in his textbook Principles of Psychology, remarked:
“Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatterbrained state which in French is called distraction, and Zerstreutheit in German.”

I wonder if our increasing tendency to multitask (of which I am guilty) is robbing us of the ability and affinity for focusing on the precious intense moments of living that are within our grasp daily.

If our brain is trying to accomplish several things at once, something is lost, and that something is the intense pleasure to be had from focusing on one thing: one simple beautiful piece or moment in the universe.

I don’t want to focus on the negatives of multitasking, but on the rewards of attention:

The day I wrote this, my wife Claire and I rode our bicycles to Ski Valley in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson. We began our ride at sunrise in saguaros heavy with white blossoms and the faintly acrid scent of creosote, both signatures of the Sonora Desert, and ended at nearly 9,000 feet in aspens alive with the eager gobbling of a turkey in the deep forest.

Along the way as the saguaros gave way to bushy oaks, we caught the scent of dry grass. Then came the gin smell of juniper and the vanilla of ponderosa pines – all punctuated by the liquid descending call of a canyon wren – and finally into the clean sharpness of spruce and thin air.

You get the idea. I was paying attention – very close attention – to the subtle changes of the varied climate zones that span from Mexico to Canada, that we had passed through in just three hours.

Of course we could have driven it in a motor vehicle more quickly, and we do sometimes, but we would have missed most of the smells, all of the sounds, and the involvement of our own bodies.

Muscles working against gravity have a way of demanding one’s attention. Contrary to popular perception, that sensation is mostly pleasant if focused on, rather than trying to ignore the “pain.” Pain and pleasure can be interchangeable with the right attention and attitude.

On the way down the sense of speed was intensified by gusts tugging at the light bicycle and skinny tires. At this speed paying attention is not only rewarding, but required. Forty – or even fifty miles per hour – on a bicycle is pure joy, even if it is just on the edge of being scary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSXQJK57tus

While we were at a rest stop for a snack and to enjoy a view of the city, Claire was using her water bottle to wash a bug from her eye. I got close to her to see if it was gone. The aliveness and attention of our day together coalesced into my desire to hold her – and I did. I focused my attention where our damp bodies met, the smell of her hair, the sun on my back. As I held her I told her something very personal that I’d been wanting to share with her about my desires for the end of my life. I’m not sure any other combination of circumstances would have led me to make that revelation.

Life is only fully appreciated through attention – especially attention to emotions.

This subject deserves more than I am giving it now – perhaps I will come back to it later. For now, those muscles I used so fully are demanding me to give full attention to a fade into a long deep sleep.

This wonderous place called “Shangri-La” has become a template for almost any modern earthly paradise, but is presented as a mythical Himalayan utopia, forever happy and healthy because it is completely isolated and insulated from the influences, wars, and diseases of the outside world.

In fact, in both the book and the 1937 Frank Capra directed movie “Lost Horizon” starring Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt, Shangri-La was presented as an Eden surrounded by nearly impassable Himalayan peaks. The story was very convincing and it generated feelings of hope that such a place could really exist, especially during the time of the Great Depression and the world-wide economic collapse that was leading directly toward the most devastating war in human history.

Many expeditions actually set out in the Himalayan mountain ranges looking for the fabled Shangri-La, even though it was only a fictional place dreamed up by Mr. Hilton. His description of the people living at Shangri-La as being nearly immortal, living years beyond their normal lifespan and only slowly aging in appearance, created an almost religious devotion toward finding such a place.

Today whenever we hear the name of Shangri-La we usually think of an exotic paradise somewhere in the Orient. Our friends and frequent contributors to Just One Opinion, Bob and Claire Rogers, are on their own quest to find their “Shangri-La.” As this is being written they are pedaling their tandem bicycle across the streets, hiqhways and dirt roads of southern Asia. Those of us at JOO will do our best to keep you up-to-date on their progress and experiences as they ride on toward their goal, their own vision of Shangri-La.

Here’s a link to Bob and Claire’s own article about “Shangri-La” published on their website: “Shangri-La: Journey into myth, searching for reality”

Check back daily at JustOneOpinion.com for updates (links are located in the right sidebar) and the Rogers’ own website at NewBohemians.net for the latest news about their progress. Bob and Claire will be uploading articles, photos, and videos directly to their website whenever and as often as they can. Wi-Fi is available throughout Asia, but there are huge gaps between available access. So bear with them and wish them luck on their long, arduous – but most exciting trip.

If you want to email Bob and Claire and send them your good wishes, try them at BobRogers@NewBohemians.net.

You can keep track of their progress on this special journal page updated daily at JustOneOpinion.com.

Ever since Charles Darwin introduced the world to the evolution of life forms by means of natural selection, debate has centered upon the perceived challenge to one’s faith by the theory of evolution. Now the debate has expanded to the public school classroom where religious fundamentalists advocate that “alternative theories to evolution” be taught. The candidate usually proposed for such “alternatives” is intelligent design creationism, albeit the term creationism is usually omitted from the moniker by its proponents so as to avoid challenging the Establishment Clause of the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The basic tenant of Intelligent Design is that some biological structures (e.g., the vertebrate eye, the bacterial flagellum, bird’s wings) or some biological processes (e.g., blood clotting mechanisms, cellular replication) are too complex to have been produced by natural processes (natural selection) alone; therefore, these structures must have been “intelligently designed.” Although ID supporters ultimately have to acknowledge that to be intelligently designed, there must be an intelligent “designer.” And that this too represents a challenge to the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. So strategically, most ID advocates cautiously avoid such obvious extensions of their claim.

So is ID an alternative scientific theory to evolution? No! Theories are “…in science, well-substantiated explanations of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate tested facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.” (National Academy of Sciences, 1998) And, ID proponents provide no testable hypotheses to substantiate their claims nor do they provide a model that meets the stringent criteria of scientific theory. Therefore, calling ID (creationism) a theory is inappropriate, as it doesn’t begin to approach the robustness of scientific theory. Furthermore, cloaking ID in the language of science by using “theory” does not make it scientific; science has higher standards than mere assertion.

ID has as its basic tenant, a fallacy of false alternative; that those biological structures and processes that science hasn’t been able to adequately explain must be the result of a supernatural intelligent design force or agent (designer). What ID proponents fail to recognize is that currently unexplained does not mean always inexplicable. Science is dynamic and answers may be on the horizon for those questions that remain unanswered. By the very nature of science, there will always be questions that remain unanswered because in the process of answering a question or solving a problem, more questions arise. This is the very nature and a most admirable quality of science. New questions will always be formulated.

If ID proponents want to present their ideas in the science classroom, they must first submit testable hypotheses to the scientific community for evaluation and validation, or, per a contemporary version of Francis Bacon’s quote: “Scientific validation must precede what is taught in the science classroom; we do not teach as science what we hope will be validated in the future.”

Here is a video of Dr. Forbes lecture on “Intelligent Design.” It is long, so clear your schedule, but it is very interesting and well presented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcBs0ZxQ9VY

[Photo credits: "Baby World" photo by Felix Atsoram, Argentina; "3D Earth" graphic by Jamie Woods, Brisbane, Australia]

Like millions of others, my in-box was flooded with patriotic pieces about soldiers during the recent Memorial Day weekend.  One of them stood out for me, not so much for the poignant singing and the historical photos that were featured, but because of the fact that it was made more significant by the man who introduced the singers.

USMC Lieutenant, Andrew Kinard, is a marine who was wounded in Iraq.  He lost both of his legs, and he made the introduction from his wheelchair after an extended standing ovation from the huge audience at the Academy of Country Music Awards.  He concluded his introduction of Trace Adkins and the West Point Glee Club, who were singing to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, by saying, “Remember, it’s not about the war…it’s about the warrior.”

His statement may have been some time-honored tribute to soldiers, but it was new to me, and it hit close to home.

The star-studded audience was transfixed and emotional as Trace and the Glee Club sang and accompanying photos were flashed upon a large screen.

The video touched me because I know a young soldier – a young warrior.  He’s a young man I have known since he was born, and I am so proud of him that I feel tears welling up almost every time I think of him.  By the grace of god, and the incredible training an Army Ranger goes through, he has not been wounded, even though he was part of the first wave into Baghdad.

He will not talk about the things he saw and did as they fought their way into the heart of Iraq, engaged in mortal combat with people who don’t place the same value on human life Americans do.  Hints he has given me tell me it was a physically and emotionally draining experience that most people can’t even imagine.

Now, as he prepares to leave this summer for a tour of Afghanistan, I am even more proud of him.  He has a young family that he has to leave behind.  He is not intimidated by what he has to do – he is saddened about leaving his family.  He is stoic in his belief that it his duty to make another year long commitment to go to a war zone.  We have an all volunteer army, and he made the choice to become an Army Ranger, just like every other soldier who made it their choice to join the military.

The media tends to ignore it, because it is not deemed to be politically correct in today’s climate of change, but there are thousands of soldiers who return to battle voluntarily.  There are quiet young men like the one I am talking about, who could rip your heart out of your chest in an instant, who are committed to causes that are not supported by a significant faction of Americans.  You may get tired of hearing the mantra that they are fighting so you don’t have to, or so you and your family can live in safety and comfort – but it is true.

I understand that war is a very sensitive issue because young men and young women are being wounded and they are dying.  It is understandable that it is so emotional to so many people.  In spite of that, I believe in what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I also realize that only half of the people in this country are with me.  To me, the country’s division is really not a political issue, although it is heavily influenced by politics.  It’s an ideological issue, and how I or anyone else arrived at our ideological stomping ground is something I’ve never been able to figure out.  It’s obviously complicated, and influenced by age, social surroundings, parental influence, peer pressure, and world and national happenings.

As an early stage Baby Boomer who grew up in a small town in western South Dakota, I am a dreamer who was surrounded by fiercely patriotic, hard-working, honest people who never hesitated to fight for what they believed in.  Most of the people I know with a similar background believe as I do.

My dilemma in trying to understand all of this is that I know some people with the same background as mine who are so far left of me I can barely see them.  It’s probably not that simple because our personal beliefs can be influenced by one particular life circumstance, or a combination of circumstances.

When that young warrior said, “It’s not about the war…it’s about the warrior,”  here is the thing that grabbed me:  The young soldier I know recently turned to me, after looking both directions to make sure nobody else could hear him, and said, “You know Craig, I believe in what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I believe we are doing the right thing.”

This proud, young, American warrior, who is not afraid to engage an enemy soldier in hand-to-hand combat, was afraid of what people around him would think if they heard him say that he believed in what we are doing.  He is heading off for another year away from his family in a horrid and dangerous environment because he believes he is doing the right thing for our country – and he knows only half of us agree with him.  He knows his family members love him and are proud of him.  He knows they worry about him and pray for his safety. But he also knows that many of them are so idealistically against what he is doing that he doesn’t want them to know how he really feels.

No matter what position you take, the next time you are sitting in the comfortable and safe place of your choice, having a glass of wine or a cold beer, take a moment and search your heart for the gratitude and support the young men and women who have chosen to make a sacrifice for you deserve.  Think about them crawling around unfamiliar desert terrain in 120 degree temperatures, praying they don’t find a bullet or an explosive device with their name on it.  Think about how many of them have to go without the things you take for granted: every day a warm shower, a hot meal, a hug from a child, or a walk in the park.

I’m not going to close with, “God bless our soldiers,” because they are blessed.  They are blessed with a type of pride in and commitment to our country that I hope will one day help close the ideological gap that has torn America apart.

According to government sources these attacks have ranged from low-levels of nuisance hacking to serious and aggressive probes and attacks on many federal government computer networks. There is a strong suspicion that possibly China and Russia, among other nations, have actually supported and sponsored cyber espionage against the West. It was revealed earlier this year that there had been a cyber attack against the North American electrical grid, and that some Pentagon computer networks were temporarily infected by a virus.

President Obama has admitted that even his campaign computers were victimized by hackers. He reassured his campaign contributors and donors that none of their personal information had been tampered with or compromised.

On May 29th, Obama announced that he will choose the person he wants to run a new White House Office of Cyber Security. That position will report to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. An official title has not yet been determined, but the person filling the position will have regular and direct access to the President.

President Obama announces creation of Office of Cyber Security

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_V6ho0lZwY

Because I am not only a Senior Editor for JustOneOpinion.com, but also its webmaster, the security of this website is obviously very important to me. I’ve installed several built-in safeguards that not only protect the website itself, but also our contributors and visitors. So far these precautions have been working exceptionally well and I’ve had no reports or technical indications of any security breaches in connection with this site.

That is not to say that we have escaped unscathed. We are constantly being bombarded with fake and spammy comments, most coming from just a few servers in Russia, Switzerland and Italy. In just the past seven days I have removed over 500 spam comments and questionable emails from this site – and an equal number from other sites that I manage or support. These have all been trapped before they can actually enter into the JOO systems. I’ve also identified and blocked several suspect ISPs that seem to be major sources for spammy emails and comments.

It was recently reported that 97% of all emails during the past year contained spam or other problematic content. That is considered to be an improvement since this number is DOWN from the 99% reported in 2007. For those of us who are heavy users of email this is not much of an an improvement – nor is it an overstatement of the facts.

I have several personal and business email addresses. Each of them average ten to twenty spammy emails every day, whether or not I’ve received any legitimate emails intended for me from friends and business associates.

I recently created a new Yahoo! email address that I was going to use for one particular purpose. I created it, tested it once, and then left it alone for several days. I had not used it at all and had not given it out to any other website or a single living soul. I had not sent a single email from it. Only Yahoo! and I knew that it existed.

When I finally popped in a few days later to write a new email, the mail box already had fifty emails in the “Spam” folder and ten emails in the “Inbox” folder that were all spam. I just want to know how these spammers knew that I was actually interested in “sexy blonde strippers” and “Viaggrra”? Who told these people about my most personal and private secrets!?!?

The bright side of getting all that spam is that I now have a money-gram waiting for me at the local Western Union office and some really nice fellow in Nigeria has 10 million Euros that he wants to transfer to my bank and I don’t have to do much of anything except give him my account number and my password so that he can deposit it for me.

Seriously – it is time that the federal government step in and take a very hard line against cyber crime and spam. In 2003 the Bush Administration passed the CAN-SPAM Act that was intended to be a deterrent. So far it has been a disastrous failure.

Realistically, all that CAN-SPAM did was to complicate the issue rather than act as a solution. It created a few rules for legitimate commercial email and websites that real spammers simply ignore. Now it is often harder to get an email response back from your real estate broker or mortgage banker than it is to get twenty-five clearly spammy ads for “Pedi-Paws.” In many cases your banker has probably tried to comply with the law and still failed to get his email to you – while some spammer who completely ignored the law was able to get dozens of obvious spam emails through unblocked.

Let’s face it, President Obama has his hands full with this issue. The odds are high that maybe a few congressional Democrats and several Republicans will try to put up roadblocks and attempt to make this an issue of “personal freedoms” and “right to freely communicate.”

I think President Obama will have the total support of a majority of American business and personal computer users. At the same time, I would not want to be a member of Congress and have my name listed in the Congressional Record as having voted against such legislation.

The secret to success: “Follow the money!”

For many years I’ve studied this problem and considered dozens of possible solutions to stopping the worst of the spammers. My guess it that if you get the big guys, the little ones will probably be scared off and completely quit the business.

Since the Bush Administration suspended most of our privacy rights under the so-called “Patriot Act” and started listening in to all of our phone calls, the government also has the ability to read and index all of our emails and other online communications. After several years of the Feds “listening in,” there simply has to be a huge resource of data from which the government can mine evidence to identify and take action against the worst of these spammers.

Think about it: There’s no real advantage to spammers to send out millions of emails every hour for nothing. It takes some effort to prepare the emails, gather up millions of email addresses, and to track them. Someone is obviously paying them for doing all of this.

In almost every case, there is a major company or corporation that benefits from sales generated by all this spam. Either the makers of “Pedi-Paws” or some of their distributors have to be making money from the effort of the spammers, so they pay commissions for each sale to the spammers. These commissions can be huge. If the response rate is just one thousandth of a percent, literally hundreds of sales will be made every day for that one product. If a spammer can send out enough emails to generate ten thousand sales and get a 50 cent commission per each, that is $5000 a day, or nearly $2 million a year from just one product. Then all they do is “rinse and repeat!”

A far more important issue with spam is not just that a few computer whizzes have figured out how to set their computers to make a ton of money for them – but rather the danger posed by just a few criminal hackers who also use spammy emails to distribute viruses via hijacked computers or by stealing private and personal data from other folks’ computer hard drives.

Those of us that use PCs (IBM-Intel personal computers) with Microsoft Windows software are especially vulnerable to viruses, spyware and ad-ware. This situation is not so much due to the limitations of the PC or Microsoft software, but rather the fact that there are so many in use in millions of homes and businesses that they make a more tempting target for hackers to concentrate on.

It has been said that Macintosh/Apple style computers are safer to use, as are Firefox and Opera browsers. This is true to some extent, but not completely. There are some very serious viruses that exist that attack those computers, but because the numbers are so much smaller, they are less inviting targets and less profitable for hackers to spend their time on.

What the Government Can Do

• Let the hackers and spammers know that the Feds are coming after them.
• Ask Congress to pass emergency legislation that will make any attack on either personal, business or government computers a federal crime with some very stiff confiscatory and jail penalties. Make this legislation effective within 30-60 days.
• Let the government offer the first one hundred hackers and spammers to come forward, turn themselves in, and work for the government as consultants to catch other spammers and hackers. Carefully monitor their activities so that we don’t “let the fox into the hen house.”
• Have a team of investigators and volunteers start responding to spam, make purchases, and then follow the money to see who gets the final payoff.
• Establish severe penalties and fines for any American business or manufacturer that allows its products to be sold via spam emails or spammy websites.
• Establish severe penalties, including revocation of importing rights, to any foreign company that is found to use spam emails to sell their products.
• Send out regular bulletins and updates to major newspapers and TV outlets that will identify spam emails and the products they sell. Some people may think that buying “Pedi-Paws” through an email vendor might be a good idea. Let the public know the risks and tell them who the culprits really are.
• Create a government website that publishes examples of real and current phishing and spam emails. For example, if a person gets an email from “Bank of America” (I’ve gotten at least a dozen in the past week alone and I don’t even have an account with BofA) telling the reader that their bank account will be frozen if they don’t email back their account number and password, they should be able to go to the government site and look it up to see if it is legitimate or not. If not, they can place a report to be followed up on by investigators. If it is, then the government can contact the bank and tell them to change their procedures and to stop sending the emails.
• If I can follow the tracks back to the computers that are sending spam using widely available software and simple online searches, then so can the government. Let’s see them put some effort behind their wagging tongues for a change.

This is serious, folks! I’m pleased that President Obama has taken this initiative. We need to give him our full support. If he is successful in his efforts, we will see an immediate decrease in cyber crimes, virus attacks on our computers, and identity theft crimes.

In addition to supporting President Obama in this national effort, we should withhold our votes from any member of Congress, any U.S. Senator, or any state government official that opposes this effort. We will never be truly free to communicate through the Internet or by email until this problem with cyber crime is finally under control. Anyone who opposes this effort is either an idiot or in cahoots with the spammers.

Just One Opinion will publish the names of any public official, elected or appointed, that fails to support this effort. They do have the right to speak their mind, and we will publish their comments and concerns, but we want to know what possible reason they would have to not support President Obama’s effort to curb cyber crime and the resulting identity theft that affects us all.

I’d like to suggest that we use NBC’s online predator documentaries as an example of how to deal with spammers. These shows use volunteers over 18 to act as underage boys and girls chatting online. Using MySpace.com and other online social networks they use volunteer experts to lure potential pedophiles into showing up at private homes all across the country with the intent to have sex or otherwise molest these presumably “under-aged minors.” When they do show up they are caught “with their pants down,” so to speak, and then turned over to the local police.

Watch one or two of these shows and you will see dozens of men of all races, income levels and social backgrounds show up to be caught in a trap of their own making. Many bring condoms, liquor, sex toys – and sometimes even ropes, knives and guns. When they do show up, they are turned over to the local police for arrest and booking. In the process, no one is hurt and no children are actually involved.

That is what our government needs to do with spammers: Find a way to identify and locate them, suck them into a trap, and then turn them over to the police. Then let the Feds go after the people they are really working for and do the same to them.

Americans, particularly the middle class, are suffering with varying degrees of wealth loss, and our sense of personal security and prosperity has taken a big hit. Consumer confidence levels are at historic lows and our stress levels high; that combination is not a recipe for having happy citizens.

Tough times bring fear, depression and anger. But tough times also offer us a great opportunity to reexamine our core beliefs and our basic assumptions about how we should define “prosperity” and “happiness.”  Just how should we perceive the “good life.”

Now is a great time to ask ourselves some challenging and potentially rewarding questions: Would we be less happy without all the possessions that we have assumed are the necessities of modern life? What if the reverse were true, that we could be happier with less?

The idea that limiting our possessions could lead to a more satifactory life is akin to religious blasphemy – the religion of consumerism. It’s a religion that has made us wealthy in material things, but it hasn’t made us truly happy.

The very nature of a consumer economy requires that we are forever dissatisfied with our station in life and our success is defined by our possessions. We learn at an early age that the one with the most toys stands atop  the social order. The problem is that no matter how hard one works, no matter how wealthy one becomes, there will always be someone with more wealth, more toys – cars, houses, yachts, and club memberships.

When I hike in the mountains around Tucson, I notice that the higher up the side of a mountain the lots are more expensive and the houses become larger. This demonstrates a  literal representation of our need to place ourselves above others to show them that we are superior beings, perhaps positioned closer to God, only because we can afford to live higher up the hill than other people.

I once owned a home with spectacular mountain views on one side and view of an island dotted strait and a snow capped volcano on the other. So I know something about owning an expensive lot with expansive views. The novelty eventually wears off, just as it does after a week or two driving a new luxury car. It all gets old: owning third and fourth houses, a larger yacht, the constant fawning of the employees at the spa.

Most people have to work hard to achieve a high plateau of consumption and might reasonably think their reward ought to be great happiness. But that is not necessarily so. It is true that the rich are probably happier than the poor – no surprise there.  The real difference probably comes from knowing they have a cushion of security (having great medical  insurance comes to mind) that the poor lack. But realistically their possessions have little or no relationship to their real level of life satisfaction.

On the “World Database of Happiness,” America is currently ranked at number 23, a rather disappointing number considering our immense wealth. The happiest people are living in Denmark, a small European country known for its somewhat unique balance of capitalism and socialism. They have a vibrant capitalist economy that is combined with a ”cradle to grave” social system. In Denmark no one is extremely poor, but no one is extremely rich. No one has to pay for excellent healthcare or to get an education, but very few have opulent lifestyles. Denmark has the eleventh “most free” market economy, so it can hardly be considered “socialist.”

It’s not that Danes with more education and motivation don’t get ahead. They do, but their rewards are more likely to be greater professional and social prestige rather than possessions. They take pleasure in community and social involvement, not individual aggrandizement.

All this capitalist freedom lives side-by-side with the highest taxes in the world. That fact goes against all that Americans believed about the economy during the Twentieth Century, namely that low taxes, small government, and a loose-spending population are the only routes to prosperity.

We may have to reconsider that premise. We might not be able to sustain the consumer driven model. Many Americans have come to the end of their rope: Most of us can’t work any harder. Couples are having to work long hours, sometimes at multiple jobs, to achieve the American Dream, only to find they are spending their happiness, sense of security, and even their health for a dream that by its very nature must always remain out of their reach.

The Danes know how to be thankful and how to be satisfied with fewer possessions. Instead, they have more time to enjoy what they do have with a greater sense of security and more happiness. That might not be the trade-off some of us would want to make, but the American middle class may soon realize it is they who are doing the real work in this country, but are benefiting the least.

It is seldom the poor who start revolutions, but rather the middle class. The 2008 election could have been the first shot fired in a bloodless war against worn out ideas. The American middle class may be saying that it will no longer be content to be the spending engine of an unsustainable economic model.

Of the countries we have visited by bicycle and sailboat, our overall impressions of the people’s sense of well being, their smiles and eagerness to interact, follows the happiness list closely, very much like the population of tiny Vanuatu, listed just below the U.S. at number twenty-four.

Sometimes it is the poorer peoples who understand happiness best. When Claire and I crewed on the catamaran Songlines, we anchored off some remote islands in Fiji, similar in lifestyle to Vanuatu. The people grew their food and lived in shacks that were smaller than many garden sheds in America.

Friendly Ladies in Fiji . . .

One afternoon as we strolled a beach, we were invited, in sign language, to join two ladies for tea in the shade of their windowless home. We drank strong tea from their inexpensive but ornate mugs, an obvious source of pride to them, ate home made scones and jam, shared photos and “talked.” After an hour of warm communication, we reluctantly left to row the skiff back to Songlines, a modern sailboat probably worth more than their entire village. No money changed hands as it would have been an insult to their hospitality. As we parted, their faces showed the joy they had received from the giving, and our faces beamed back at them with genuine appreciation.

It is a moment we will not forget.

Human happiness is a far more complex idea than having great success and many possessions. Happiness is sharing with others, the giving and receiving of that most precious and limited of possessions – our time.