Well this is my final time on the Mac before I pack it up to take it home to New Zealand.

So I am sitting here with many mixed emotions. This image which I took today at our favourite Vietnamese Resturant symbolises my American experience really.

It’s fierce because America whether it realises it or not is a war zone. Be it in reality somewhere in the world, or ideologically with itself in politics, or the battle against illegal immigrants. America has teeth barred like a snarling dog, and I have felt them. I felt welcomed by people here, the wonderful people I have met and got to know, people who want me to stay, but as a nation, the rules and regulations, they are as unfriendly and unwelcoming as this dragon.

And I have felt a general state of unhappiness with the way things are among people themselves, not just at a political level, but with their lives.

Its a busy place, but not happy busy. (And I full well realise that I have only touched a speck of this huge place, however I do believe I have experienced a broad general representation of the country)

People are pretty much the same all over…………perhaps even worse….or perhaps even more wrapped up in survival than I have seen.

This picture represents the diversity of this place, as well as the creations it has spawned. It’s kinda like a Klingon, or some on the bridge of Starship Enterprise.

In reality, I am loathed to leave because in its own way I have become fascinated by the place.

It has so changed me. Possibly not in ways I have even fully comprehended myself or how Americans think it might change me.

But I have a love for this place, as well as a desire to escape it while I can.

In these uncertain times the hum drum of a job is a luxury I welcome.

The wheels of a regular existence, and the familiarity of the soil you grew out of seem mighty fine.

AND driving on the other side of the road, that’s gona be interesting..since my brain has adjusted.

So before I fall asleep at the keyboard, best I do what I don’t really want to and pack up the computer for the flight home.

I wont be in this space perhaps ever again.

This has been a rich time, I time I ave no regrets about and a time that I think will have been the makings of me.

I will say more from the other side.

Thanks America for teaching me so much, thanks to all the wonderful and beautiful people I have met. Thanks to Pablo’s for the most awesome coffee.

Thanks to Susan for taking me to neat places and spaces….and our journey is not ending here.

I will miss the sky and the light of the sun here…………….

Yes I will miss the little bit of America I have lived in.

Gona do it now and turn off the switch.

KiwiVagabond over and out.

He’s going home.

Well Happy Christmas that’s gone and Happy New Years that’s gone but will keep happening for another 361 days.

On the other side of these holidays I wish the excitement could have lasted longer. Bring back 3 day celebrations like in the real olden times. Though I enjoyed them, the build up and all that, going to friends places, the decorative atmosphere everywhere, the days themselves passed with me in solitude, thinking as usual, but happy. I like time alone,

BUT perhaps being alone on Christmas and New Years isn’t something I want to do too often.

Stranger in a strange land, I will find those who are alone and invite them to my humble table at such festive times.

AND

though socialism may get the bad press in America, the land of opportunity, the  home of capitalist crashes and wonders, (and I don’t even know if this has anything to do with socialism or if its just plain good sense), I like the way in NZ we have two statutory days off at Xmas and New Years. Which most people enjoy.

That don’t happen to everyone in this great and blessed land. It seems time may stand still on those actual celebratory days and then its back to the grindstone/treadmill for workers and the driven. The blessed middle class. Perhaps Obama or some wise person will put an end to this madness.

More time off may be the luxury of the wealthy and economically unchallenged. Or the sane.

Nope. America never stops. It’s a 24 hour going concern.

When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.

Forgive my sarcastic sentiments, I am reflecting on my time here.

I am on the eve of leaving and returning to one of the blessed nations on earth, my home soil, hills, salt water , rivers and mountains. Aotearora/New Zealand. AND a job.

I will struggle with serious rejection issues incurred by this land of the free. It cost me $300  US, thats nearly $570 NZ,  for me to get a piece of paper telling me what I already knew about applying for an extension and no I couldn’t stay in USA  for another 6 months.

I am angry and will probably stay angry about that, and what really irks me is that any attempt to come back to USCIS about the reasons they gave that cost 300 buks to write out in the denial letter would not move a speck of emotion in the organisation OR find any chinks where they might think, yes he’s right, we have misleading forms to fill in.

The American Federal agencies have a jadedness to people, there are just so many, you feel like a number when you go there, the experience can strip you of human touch.

Ho HUM….it’s just part of the American way. Like it or lump it..You are just another person in the line and there are many behind you, and coming tomorrow and the next day and the next.

The assumption is that all comers are leaches on the system. Some want to give. I did. I could have been a great advocate for America. A PR bonus in fact.I see good here as well as the stupidity.

Individuality reigns supreme in America, if you want to express yourself, or carry a gun, be a crazy on the Colfax bus, have a choice of salad dressings, or become a millionaire. But it doesn’t reign supreme in places where it should, places where you should feel like you are being treated like an individual. Like governmental agencies and airports.

In that De Caprio movie ‘Blood Diamonds’, they had this term, TIA which means ‘this is Africa’, you know banana republics and the politics of graft and corruption …………well in my book TIA will also mean this is America. Nothing surprises me.

AND yet I can see what makes this country potentially a great place again.

Some people are looking for answers in all the wrong places.

So that my gut spill of grrrrrrr against the place I have grappled with, loved and come to understand a bit. ( I can’t say understand  a lot, to give credence to the millions of thinking/processing miles my brain and heart have done as I have walked and rode the buses, because some will say, what do you know ‘kiwi’.)

Perhaps they are right, and I have no right to think or form any opinions about America becoz I ain’t one.

BUT hey, I am going home, to a job. That in itself in these perilous times will be a luxury.

AND I will go home a different beast.

Gona be funny though.

I used to have  fridge magnet that said, ‘You can’t scare me, I have kids’.

Well I have a few new versions, that I will ponder when I am confronted by wanabe gangster types in NZ who grow larger thru intimidation type looks and walks and words and dress styles……………..and copy American styles from TV, music and movies

I might get badges that say…………’you can’t scare me, I have riden the Colfax buses’………..or ‘you can’t scare me, I have lived in America for 8 months’………..or ‘you can’t scare me, I seen real black people’. (and they ain’t all gangsters)

Yes going home is gona be funny. The reverse might happen. I will do NZ /America comparisons in real time now.

Living here has changed me inside, its been great. Quite apart from the awesome people I have meet and come to know.

Just looking at the mountains, seeing the land just spreading out forever from the window of the plane in every direction..

Seeing the iron work, faux finishes and tiling in America. The unique trucks purpose built. Massive antique shops, AND The Home Depot. (tool paradise)

Seeing people who are just the same externally as New Zealanders commuting home at dusk, but have the internal characteristics of having  grown in different soil.

Yes this has been awesome for my own growth.

I wonder if I changed anything in America just by being here. That smile, that touch.

Leaving is tinged with a not wanting to go, I know I haven’t got the full scoop of this country.

Don’t think I am far off though.

Yesterday I went busking down 16th St Mall in Denver Metro. It was - ZERO degrees celcius, and I thought it would be a good mention in my resume, or as a passing mention in the biography of my exploits and FAR too much thinking and reflecting.

So there I was, dobro and guitar, a little seat to sit on, my pack and a ton of courage. By the time I had walked to the bus stop, my fingers were numb and on fire. It was like they felt riding my bike to school on an early winter morning in NZ. How was I gona play anything.

Fortunately they recovered in the overly warm bus to Civic Center.

Once on the street it was crucial to find a place in the sun, like some kind of reptilian rock star warming up to something.

With great spirit I played for quite a while before anyone put a buck in the case. I had a nice wee note propped up in my guitar case about the birth of the true king, and happy Christmas from a kiwi, not the fruit BUT a New Zealander.

Slowly people took pity on the nicely dressed, obviously cold but smiling kiwi.

The dobro seemed to be the most popular.

The significant memories for that day are………….

• many many torso’s passing with hands in their pockets…………….understandably, and excercising their rights to freedom of choice
• how people try not to see you…….or have any eye contact
• the guy who stopped to play with me, but whose hands were so cold he couldn’t keep time, or follow a chord progression….but he had energy, and made up his songs on the go
• how good the sun felt thru two jackects, two T-Shirts, long johns and mittens on your hands
• the Somali lady who came over and stroked the dobro with a smile
• the street performer who stood and watched the dollars in my guitar case, like it was a steaming roast meal……then he showed me how he pokes 5″ nails down both nostrills
• the old black lady who was waiting at the crossing and hobbled over and put some change in my case.

Of course I played Silent Night so much I could hear Hendrix in a lead break. In the end, playing among all the noise was  very very strange.

On that corner was a lady ringing a bell for the Salavtion Army.

A black homeless guy selling the homeless newspaper.

The light rail tram blowing its horn as it passed…………..

The sound of my thoughts processing the situation, the people passing, stayn positive and in tune, what this said about them and me……all that kinda stuff was just echoing around in my head.

I headed home blessed by the experience, but freezing and with a few bucks, after splitting it with the guy who couldnt stay in time or follow progressions.

Being the processor I am I thought lots about what made America America. Obviously you had the have and have nots passing you all day. It’s surprising who gives money for the joy you are tryn to share.

Most buskers seem weird, dirty or down and out. I was desperate to not appear like that.

I was grateful for the comments people made about my playing, and the giving, and may God bless them. I was not really there for the money, more to just add some light and do something I can do, but I also felt I was worth something for doing that if people so chose too. Hey where’s the spirit of Christmas………..

I so didn’t want to be a beggar. Not from pride BUT just that there is so much of it here, bumming a cigarette, dope, or some change for some reason……..the stories are colourful.

And so to the title, What is America?

I woke to do some research on ‘the formation of American patriotism’, a topic I had been mulling over for a while.

I found this very thought provoking article on that topic and which also touched on some issues to do with Americas development, and the forgetting of its roots and the irrational fear and judgement of the left.

The burning question I have always in my meaderings in Denver is, ‘What makes America America? Of course I have my own theories……..but I am interested in a non kiwi perspective.

The Nation Article             I’d encourage you to read all of this.

So I survived the busking, dunno if I want to punish my heart and hands like that again tho.

At Christmas I should have been thinking about other things.

Perhaps all the lovely decorations, and the obvious revelling in Christmas is only skin deep. It didnt get many hands out of their pockets. BUT I hopped I warmed hearts.

Perhaps that is America, perhaps that is the human race. Individualism gone mad. Long live capitalism.

It cost the old lady most to put those quarters in my case. Perhaps.

In the absence of invites, and more out of conviction, I am going to see if I can serve Christmas dinner at a shelter for the homeless. Its gonna be REAL cold on Xmas day, and I could do with some warmth in my soul that day.

This morning I had a huge realisation, and as usual it is the culmination of a great deal of thinking going on continually in the background, day and night.

I hope it adds to my live rather than shortening it, like when you were a kid you heard that every kiss takes a day off your life and you decide to stop kissing your mum coz she’s the only one you ever kiss. Those were the days.

If my time is shortened from all my ruminating on life, this is goodbye becoz my number must be up real soon, like maybe tomorrow!

If it adds to my life….hey I will be here for a while! In fact I may be immortal by now!

The BIG ‘S‘ word is  S  O   C   I   A   L   I   S   M .

Mention ’socialism’ to the majority of Americans and it’s like the name of Christ in the presence of a demon. PANIC and PEDIGREE, crosses come out, heckles rise and it’s like a scene from the Exorcist. There is some kind of deep inability to mix here.

Of course the election has educated ‘everyone’ on what ’socialism’ is because of Joe The Plumber and Obama’s spread the wealth comment. It’s out now, the truth about socialism, giving hope to some and striking fear into the hearts of others.

Previous to that of course I think everyone was educated on socialism via the Cold War, ’socialism’ = ‘communism’, and fears and political propaganda. (Hoover etc)

One is tempted to find the actual definition. Which I will.

If anything is a ‘no no’ in America it’s spreading or sharing the wealth. (BUT someone told me the other day that America is the most generous nation on earth, I thought per head of capita kiwis were?)

I have come to the conclusion that the pre eminence of the ‘individual’ and the personal freedoms America is supposedly built on, are the basis of this fear of socialism. (intriguing that those rights to freedom don’t extend to the unborn however, but women get a fair share)

Paradox and dichotomy.

The right to freedom of speech, religion, and baring of arms have spawned a society where the individual is ‘king’, so any philosophy that smacks of any kind of self leveling playing field or helping the self determination of others is ‘anti’ American and a threat to the ‘wonderful’ and godly system called ‘democracy’. Unless of course it is politically expedient. Forgive my sarcasm.

In fact if America has been this wonderful social experiment, I would postulate that really what exists now is not as far removed from the lives of the settler over the hundreds of years as they have come here for new lives as proponets of the ‘brave new world’ would have us believe.

Has the experiment worked for most, or worked at all.

I tire of the claims re America being the greatest nation on earth.(Fox Host, Sean Hannity) I have never seen so many homeless people, smokers, beggars, people who are overtly mentally unstable, people with walking sticks, oxygen bottles …………etc

Interesting I have never seen as many fat people either!

In New Zealand I have never seen the pre dominance of such things, yet by popular definition New Zealand would be classed as ’socialist’.

My realisation today is simply this.

Where the ‘cult’ of the individual is idealised and reigns supreme, (not a very democratic pun), anything that threatens ‘individual’ power and opens up ‘ the power of numbers’, is labelled some kind of socialism.

Anything that threatens my individual rights  or involves some kind of government intervention in business, it’s called socialism.

Were it that the ‘responsibilities’ of the individual as important as the ‘rights and freedoms’ of the individual, well meaning Americans might not struggle with the concept of helping others less fortunate for a variety of reasons.

The playing field is not equal, not everybody who is in an unfortunate situation is lazy or not exercised their energy and talents to make a go of it in ‘anything is possible land’.

Not everyone can have the perfect conditions to entertain singing with Frank, ‘I did it my way’.

That seems to be the gross assumption, that anything is possible for anyone. While it can be true, and determination and strength are needed, there is also a lot of fortune involved, regarding timing, context, who’s who etc.

I know its simplistic, but on my own I can effect a limited amount of change even with the ripple effect.

With a whole village involved I can make serious change. And the input is spread.

It’s not making me less indidvidual, that I have less of an identity, or that I am losing any self determination possiblities BUT I am putting my shoulder to the plough with others.

If every American or Kiwi put $1 per week into a fund, that could help pay mortgages,  medical needs etc.

Imagine that.

Socialism in my simplistic model is the power of numbers and the willingness to help fellow citizens.

And if individual’s can’t opt into that, perhaps they need help.

If ‘capitailism’ is ‘GOD’ as a philosophy, (which I tend to think is a Darwin-istic survival of the fittest approach, and which isn’t always wrong), then maybe it needs to be balanced with responsibility,compassion, and giving.

Perhaps ‘the love of money’ is the real problem I am struggling with, and that’s behind Americas fear of socialism, and ugliness.

Note I am not espousing ’socialism’ as an answer……………..just intrigued by America’s fear of it.

Free enterprise/capitalism and elements of socialism like health care can work.

What do you think?

Oh and here’s a couple of definitions.

Socialism
Economic system which is based on cooperation rather than competition and which utilizes centralized planning and distribution.

This content can be found on the following page:
http://www.investorwords.com/4613/socialism.html

1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
2. procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.

I can see the American aversion to socialism is it’s attachment to Marx and ‘communism’.

In Marxist theory, it went capitalism, socialism the communism, as a progression.

Vigotsky was a Marxist theorist, yet he has impacted education tremendously.

Is the baby in the bathwater?

Not all parts of every theory are wrong or not having some kernel of good or relevance.

Can capitalism and the best parts of socialistic theory or practice co-exist ?

Today as I was walking the Streets of Capitol Hill in Denver, I was deep in thought as usual. But not so deeply in thought that I felt compelled to think about only one thing and chew on it like a dog with a bone. There was lightness in my thinking today but twas about a deadly serious subject, especially to Americans.

As I walked I tried to look at it from different angles and perspectives.

My ruminating topic today was PATRIOTISM and what it is. It comes out in Kiwis in a VERY different way to how it does in Americans, and why was that and was it in itself a good or a bad thing.

That was hours ago and its snowed since then BUT I will try to recapture those thoughts as I walked down Ogden St not worried about taking photos today but having fun thinking.

Why think about patriotism @ all? I don’t know what started it but it was definitely a distillation of many thoughts & feelings I have had while being here.

Perhaps too it was the processing of a really neat evening with some Indian friends and hearing them discuss the recent and historical happenings in India, and their responses to it and the responses of their friends still in India.

During the converstaion and discussion I know I did say that I found it very hard dealing with Americo-centric perspectives on history, contemporary times and the perceived importance of America in all that.

I also confess to watching Fox, Sean Hannity & Bill O Reilly & Greta. I kind of have a love hate relationship with these guys, I am philosphicaly aligned with them  in that I am a conservative, but in other ways they are like little kids who need a dose of discipline that will maybe open their eyes to how little they listen, and how come they got to get to place where they can splurge their worldviews over the planet, and not really listen to others.

Reilly listens to Miller though. I like Miller.

The word ‘patriot’ often comes up with these guys, ‘real ‘Americans, ‘good’ Americans , ‘true’ Americans, or you sir are a ‘patriot’. AND the problem for me is that I know society needs these men, and we probably share the same faiths and talk to the same God, but they really embarrass me with their arrogance, and how little they really listen to others.

BUT lets get back to ‘patriot’ word.

My thoughts kinda ran something like this.

Is a patriot someone who agrees with Hannity and O’Reilly’s world veiw of what an American should be, the values they should hold etc?

Is a patriot someone who fights for their country?

Is it someone who loves their country no matter what and dies for it?

And so it went.

I find myself getting annoyed with Hannity’s views about America being 5% of the worlds population but doing 100% of the worlds policing. All responses to invitation of course!

And quite simply untrue as a statement.

Now I love New Zealand, being a ‘kiwi’, but you will not find me flying the flag at every opportunity, in my back yard or in any converstation reminding those involved how great NZ’s contribution to the world, or the free world has been etc.

Yet I am proud of my country, it’s place in the world, achievements etc and glad to be associated with it.

American patriotism seems to involve assertions like, ‘the most blessed  nation on earth’ one of Sean’s favourites, or ‘America is the greatest nation in the world’….etc

There is no giving of the reference points for such assertions but they are made often and with total belief in them.

Patriotism based on infatuation with an image, unsubstanciated by a track record, to me is ignorant and when repeated over and over, plain U.G.L.Y .

The ugly side of American patriotism is perhaps  the repetition of these statements that have not been reflected on or really thought through, thats why they embarrass me. I have said stuff like that in my own life, grand assertions etc and been red faced when challenged.

For starters those kinds of statements seem to elevate themselves to some higher plane of thinking that automatically invalidates Joe or Jackie citizen feeling that perspective about their beloved Timbucktoo, or the states of outer Patagonia.

Some of us don’t say those kinds of things because we know that though we love our country it has its failings as well, all nations are blessed in some way, and of course your own country is the best.

Is then American patriotism as espoused by Mr Hannity and O’Reilly one of complete denial and blindness to Americas weaknesses and stuff ups in the world. In fact that could be quite a list. Unfortuneately especially from Seanthe view seems to be that weaknesses are always the property of the ‘other’ side of the diverse political spectrum.

I JOKE of course .

God I am glad to come from a country that has more than TWO parties in power. You can’t really count the Independents as creating a Tri-partisan political system in America.

Open your eyes Sean.

So what is a patriot?

The question remains. I will get some definitions and paste them here.

I hope, as much as I love Sean and Bill as fellow human beings, that I will find something that doesn’t have such a cringe factor attached. Good pun, coz Bill’s programme where he spouts his opinions to ‘the folks’ under the guise of journalism is called ‘The Factor’. 

Here’s Seans and Bills websites, you can check them out while I get some light on patriotism by visiting the wise.

Note: These are good men, America needs them, they just need a dose of humility (Bill) and a few years away from America (Sean). Actually Sean needs a Christmas Carol kind of experience with Americas past.

http://hannity.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Hannity

http://www.billoreilly.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O%27Reilly_(commentator)

Patriot Quotes from the wise.

“Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.” Mark Twain

“One of the great attractions o patriotism - it fulfils our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.
- Aldous Huxley

“It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.”Voltaire

“He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend - provided, of course, that he really is dead.”
Voltaire

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.” Edward Abbey

“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” Clarence Darrow

“The time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interest of the privileged classes of the particular State system into which we have happened to be born.” Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

“A patriot wraps himself around the flag to defend it; a scoundrel wraps it around himself to defend himself” author unknown

“The same ambition can destroy or save, and make a patriot as it makes a knave.” Alexander Pope

“PATRIOT, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.” Ambrose Bierce

“In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated, and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however,the timid join him, For then it costs nothing to be a Patriot.”  Mark Twain

“The government is merely a servant — merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.” Mark Twain

“To me a real patriot is like a real friend. Who’s your real friend? It’s the person who tells you the truth. That’s who my real friends are. So, you know, I think as far as our country goes, we need more people who will do that.” Bill Maher

“The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree” Thomas Campbell

“’My country, right or wrong’ is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying ‘My mother, drunk or sober.’”  G. K. Chesterton

“A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.” Bill Vaughn

“Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief. A patriot shows their their patriotism through their actions, by their choice.”  Jesse Ventura

“O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief… for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.” Mark Twain

“What could I do but go with them [Civil War soldiers], or work for them and my country? The patriot blood of my father was warm in my veins.”  Clara Barton

“I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.” Gary Hart

“Such is the patriot’s boast, where’er we roam, / His first, best country ever is at home.” Oliver Goldsmith

Are you a politician who says to himself: “I will use my country for my own benefit”?…
Or are you a devoted patriot, who whispers in the ear of his inner self: “I love to serve my country as a faithful servant.”? Kahlil Gibran

“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.” Adlai Stevenson

“That kind of patriotism which consists in hating all other nations.” Elizabeth Gaskell

“But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or to detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg Address November 19, 1863

“What then is the American, this new man?…He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He becomes an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.”  Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur

“A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.” Henry Ward Beecher

Well I better stop there!

That’s enough to think about and varied enough to upon consumption produce the beginnings of a wholesome definition.

I shall return to this…………….

What do you think the definition of a patriot is?

I’d love to know.

Well the Democrats are dancing.

An historic but very eye opening election.

My name is john .I moved to usa 16 years ago.I married an american woman.I always saw usa as a country that was arrogant interfering and cocky and I also saw it as dirty and mostly concrete and steel. It was so big ,I did not like it when I got here .After I met people and started working I realised that most of the cocky nature was just pride in their country and I saw the same behaviour in kiwis .I think they are louder etc because of their freedom in some ways and big cities you have to talk a little louder to be heard.I used to hate the French due to the rainbow warrior bombing and the rugby coverage.Then I watched the tour d france bike race and saw the popy feilds and country out of the city and reilised that they are humble farmers and people just like us.USA I found to be a lot like home ,you have to go to a craft sale or a school function to see and meet the real yank not the one on tv.We all got to work go home deal with the kids home work ,the morgage, the boss etc just in a different place.It is hard to like the richest guy on the block or the sports guy who does the dance when he wins untill you meet him at the hospital whith a sick kid and you talk a little and see he is not so different.Come visit us in Wisconsin usa usa kiwi

Well as promised heres a little bit of pig hunting ‘kiwi’ styles. It so just occurred to me how if this boar had been hunted in England how different this picture could have been ‘old chap, eh wot and all that’. This is so New Zealand.

This is in fact my old dad in his younger years. Not only has it done me good to look @ this picture from a ‘let’s celebrate kiwiana who am I perspective’, but also from the fact that this is my dad . Inside myself I have this welling up of, WOW! and it makes me realise whose I am, and where I came from genetically and geographically. I walk away from this computer straighter, a fuller chest, emotionally richer, and a little less beaten by life. This image oozes testosterone and freaken Brad Pitt, Richard Gere, Arney or Harrison Ford and all the stars AIN’T got nothing on this nor all the AllBlack Gods. AND he’s my DAD!

This is the real deal.

SO I wonder… how many kiwi Dads are there out there who look at the bullshit (excuse the French but they deserve it) on television, the movies, the eye candy men, the heroes in womens minds and inside they think………………….?

Well I am sure they actually don’t think a lot because society and all its bullpucky (such a descriptive kiwi word) has demeaned and reduced their acts of manhood, courage, adventure and valor into nothingness. Unless you have abs like the 300, (assisted by makeup I might add) or have the ear of the media your exploits mean NOTHING. You are a legend in your own mind. You sit in your lazyboy and remember when……when ……….and you die slowly inside, walk more stooped, drink more, talk less……….there is no voice or even an ear for the stories compared to the strength on the medias NEW heroes. The billboard breed.

I am so guilty of not being interested BUT when I look at this picture I need to be. I so need to be.

The silence of living in obscurity in your own mind is deafening, when they could have made a movie on your life……….and you replay it in your head and come up with the sad untruth that you were nothing special.

If it wasn’t pig hunting it may have been any number of things…………I want to go home and hug my Dad, sit at his feet while I can.

He’s a heroe and I am his son.

As to the pig story. That better be another Kiwi VagaBond post.

Here’s the challenge!

Have you really seen your Dad lately?

Have you really seen your Mum?…..your grandparents if you are so lucky?

Have you really seen anyone lately?

There’s a heroe…..music please….(any of the heroe songs……………just please not ‘I did it myyyyyyyy way’………. it’s too close to the Hollywood bull___t, ole’ blue eyes was a ganster)

I am encouraged by some of the responses to the online exhibition idea.   Several have  indicated strong interest by email. I think some people are shy of blogging. It makes me realise how kiwi I am in a way. We have had to be out there to do well in this space down under, but we also have been happy to be removed. We are sometimes both of these states.

I am an out there a bit more than a be removed type. Don’t be shy, your thoughts and words are needed by the world. Just do it!

Hit respond.

Well it was summer last week! AND darn I still can’t mow the lawn. I don’t know how KiwiVagabondish it is in general to be kinda glad you don’t have to, that you have a legit excuse. I have mown the lawns in the rain before. Kiwis are not wussy. (woosea)as in wood =oosy or pussycat! No we aren’t. But I wonder if that is a kiwi thing or if other members of the male cave bear clan are glad sometimes when it rains and they don’t have to mow the dam lawn.

I wonder.

Lawns are part of NZ life, we love ‘em and we hate ‘em. Personally I love the smell of mown lawn then its off to the beach.

The New Zealand masport mower is an iconic lawnmower.