Brief Reflection

¡Hola, amigos!

Right now we're in Madrid for our second full day, getting ready to check out the Reina Sofia and the Parque del Retiro.

I did want to take a moment and just talk about traveling in general, and all the wonderful things that have come to me from doing so.  Getting to open up a dialogue about the world with people from all over the world has been a truly rich learning experience.  Americans are inclined to have a relatively small pool of opinions, especially considering the the news to which we have easiest access is weighted so heavily toward America.

In a lengthy discussion of the spread of conservatism in many global sectors due to the financial crisis, Marco and I got to talking to our German and French friends about standards of liberalism and conservatism in the States versus Europe.  A young Frenchman stated, without intent of hyperbole, "Your liberals are basically our conservatives, you know."  That was really eye-opening.  In much of Western Europe, generous healthcare and social programs are the norm, not something you have to fight congress for and add whack abortion riders to accomplish.  Extremely liberal Europeans align themselves with Communism - still a terribly dirty word in America.  It's hilarious to think that politicians to the left of center in the States are glibly accused of trying to institute Communist policy.

The news sources available here all have a global scope, something that is totally absent in American news programming.  It's a systemic problem, and it follows that many Americans are ill-informed about what's going on in the world.  I remember realizing this early in college and reading only the BBC for a while, but then realizing that they had unflattering portrayals of Israel I stopped tuning in altogether.  (Pro-Israel perspectives were more important to me at the time, and I wasn't really savvy enough to realize, hey, Gayle - just tune into a variety of news sources.  So I went back to CNN and the New York Times.)  It's very addictive, though, this knowing so much more about the world!  And empowering, too.  Granted, while not working, it's much easier to devote more of one's time to the news, but I will surely make that time when I come back and (fingers crossed!) return to employment.

Spain is wonderful, laid-back, sunny...a perfect place to be before I head out to Nepal - a place where challenges and rewards will be equally huge.  Traveling with Marco is a blast - neither of us is in a rush to see everything, so we're just enjoying as we go.

Also....I'll probably break down and post pics on facebook soon.