Those who follow me recently had an opportunity to travel with me (and my wonderful husband) for 42 days to 29 destinations (at least) in 11 countries (at least) on 3 continents (pretty sure). Whilst at it, we used public/private transport 79 times to get around and experience the good, the bad and the ugly of our host locales (mostly good, I must note).
Wherever we go nowadays I ask my husband the gnawing question: would you want to live here?
I never used to ask this question. I love United States. I feel blessed of having been accepted as its citizen, of living most of my life here among the people who, for the most part, are only generation or two removed from experiences similar to mine, of feeling dignity and confidence that My America gave me and only USA is/was able to offer. I have achieved everything I would not have been able, never could have even been allowed to dream of, in the place of my birth, Kiev, USSR. Yes, USSR! Not, Ukraine! Never Ukraine! I was born in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics! Don’t you dare to ever forget it or repeat it! I am not Ukrainian! Never was! I am a former soviet, now AMERICAN!
Well, easily said, don’t you dare to repeat it. You are repeating it, you stupid, gullible, propagandized people, and you are repeating it everywhere, as far as my eye can see. Somewhere more, somewhere less, but the ugly reach of socialism/Marxism/communism has spread and contaminated the entire world. It is no longer the specter Karl Marx wrote about. It is a ticking bomb that will implode faster than that Titan submersible did whilst we were sailing the Northern Scotland waters, and when it does, it will take everything that it great and good and worthy on this Earth into the long deep inescapable abyss of doom…
America was my salvation and I could not have envisioned that I would be seriously asking: would you want to live here? But the events that have transpired since 2007 in US government, its corruption and fake “love” of country…oh, well, as they escalate, so does a question on the minds of millions – where to escape?
In truth, and my recent travels just reconfirmed it, to me, USA is the absolute best. Even in its present chaotic state, which I fear will only become worse before it may begin to get better…
A once upon a time client of mine, Toby Tanenbaum, a woman of immense wealth, may she live to 120, used to say “I am a very lucky girl.” Funny enough, like her, coming from poverty and unhappiness, I also say that a lot, independently of Toby. My wealth is measured differently, however, because at some point of my personal development, I chose not to fit in or compromise. I measure my wealth in small gains and blessings, and large gifts from God, like having my mother still living, finding my wonderful husband, my daughter’s happiness, my stepson’s babies…and various American comforts I learn to appreciate more each time I am away from them, like air conditioning and clothes dryers…and my favorite brands of consumables.
But more than anything else, whenever I am away from America and ask that question, and hear my husband’s confident “nope”, I know that it is not by chance, but by providence that I was given America, USA, as my adopted homeland. I did not always love it or immediately appreciated it, but the farther away in miles and time, both, I got away from NYC, where I spent my first 18 years in US, the more I understood the fundamentals of USA, the true meaning its founders coded into its dna, my appreciation and love for it grows. I am a proud American and I am not afraid to be patriotically proud. Yes, I fear the impending doom and pervasive insanity, which will ultimately cause the totalitarian display of government control, sort of like during COVID, but on steroids. But presumably, if it should happen in USA, it will be happening pretty much everywhere, and we are still better off here, in USA.
In fact, it is now, when things are very unpredictable, that patriotism is imperative. Wave your red, white and blues tomorrow. Go to your local parades. Cheer for America! She needs us! We need US! The world needs US!
Happy Birthday United States! And many many many more!