Gracias en Mexico

It's kind of funny being out of the country during a big American holiday. (Thanksgiving is big right?) When you grow up in the states its easy to think that everybody in the world sits around, eats turkey, watches football, and tries to convince their extended family that what they are doing with their life is actually acceptable, on the third Thursday of November.

In Mexico, the only thanks being given was by Americans for being able to buy over the counter Viagra. When they say long lasting they really do mean it.

It was amazing how abrupt the change was from the US to Mexico. They don't ease your way into poverty, corruption, and moderate filth. It hits you like a bag of frozen burritos. I wonder why Mexico is so poor and corrupt and the US is so rich and....well, rich? Maybe that new book about Freakonomics can fill me in.

It was funny because before I went people told me that I was going to get thrown in Mexican jail, robbed, and shot before I made it 20 kilometers past the border, which I was wasn't going to get past anyway because I didn't have a valid passport or birth certificate. Not the case. The people were friendly, the cops were benign, and the tequila tasted really good. People are so dumb, but Mexico is pretty cool.

The Retirment Blues

Retirement is such a big deal these days. When I graduated from college I got so much advice from the “older and wiser” about how I should throw as much money as I could into my 401k to save for the time when I would rather read the newspaper and attend town council meetings than go to work. What the hell do people do when they retire? I feel like I have enough time to recreate as I please now and I have a full-time job. There will still be 24 hours in the day when I’m 65 right? At least I hope so; I guess anything is possible.

I went to Philadelphia this past weekend to attend a retirement event for my father. He’s ending his 40 year career in the golf professional business. I really wonder what he’s going to do. He’s not a guy who can do nothing. Nothing is exactly that. Nothing.

I feel like retirement is probably a little anti-climactic. There are always those days that I wish I was on my own schedule and I didn’t have to get up and go to work like a robot, but I don’t know if it would really be that great. I’ve been unemployed before, and I had some money to live off, but I was constantly concerned that my money would run out. Is retirement a life of endless thought about whether my money would run out before my life did - infinite unemployment? I suppose you could get some part-time job just to get out of the house and get a little paycheck, but that must be tough to swallow especially if you were in a position of high responsibility before.

I just think there is way too much emphasis put on retirement. It just doesn’t seem cool to me. Nevertheless, that 401k deduction shows up on my pay stub every week. So I ain’t exactly buckin’ the system. Yet.

Native American Halloween

Halloween is pretty cool. It is deservedly a night when grown adults party more than any other night of the year (I heard that somewhere). I sported a nifty Native American.....or American Indian....or whatever, costume that my roommate made and wore last year. I had the feather in the headband, face paint, and just about the whole nine.

When I put on this costume I suddenly felt inspired to rant a little bit about the plight of the Native American. Why this came over me, I haven't a clue. Maybe I was getting dressed on an ancient burial ground and the Native American Gods were at least making me think about my somewhat derogatory costume. Regardless, I came to the conclusion that no other group of people has been more slighted than the American Indians. They were completely strong-armed off their land, forced to sign treaties in a foreign language after persuasive drinking, and left only to see the treaties completely broken by the ever-compassionate white man. They are now left in poverty and addiction on remote reservations given to them by a government claiming to be doing them a favor by allowing them to keep their culture in tact.

We'll let you run casinos! That's enough right? Once I saw a Seinfeld episode where George tried to pay Jerry back for wrecking his car by buying him a cup of coffee.

But what really gets my goat is the complete lack of respect history gives to this. Granted, it is tough to teach fourth graders that their forefathers were egocentric pigs, but the truth should probably be told. I'm by no means giving a fantastic solution to this problem, but maybe we can deliver the information differently. I was taught a bit about Indian culture, but the eradication of this culture by a group with a "manifest destiny" was conveniently brushed over.

I guess this ugly history did provide me with a life in a world super-power and not to mention a pretty nifty Halloween costume. Not worth it in my mind.