(also, interestingly, the fourth listed definition: the violent spasms of a dying whale(!))
i am sitting in the sydney airport, having spent a long weekend visiting friends in the city, eating an m&m mcflurry and i am reminded of our frustrating differences. the components of this mcflurry, as far as i know, are the same and yet somewhere along the continental transition the process became majorly lost in translation. instead of enjoying an agitated mix of ice cream and m&m pieces i’m stuck with a cup of ice cream topped with m&m’s. can you imagine my agitation? my…mcfury? why even call this the same thing? how is flurry even applicable to this stagnant non-mix? mc-ice-cream-with-topping is what it should be called. a terribly uninspiring name for a terribly uninspiring ice cream treat.
but i’m getting carried away. travelers often get swept up in the magnificence of the places they visit. they comment on their growing appreciation at how great and different the world is, how expanded their worldview, but rarely do you hear about a growing appreciation of the point of origin. i never considered myself to be particularly nostalgic for “home”,” be that the us of a, kentucky, cincinnati, a house, wherever, whatever, whomever…so i’ve been surprised at the swell of national pride i’ve been having lately.
i think its because comparisons are so easy to make in a place like australia. a place that seems, perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, most similar to the united states. our sizes are roughly similar. our national foundations were built on similar stock. we share similarly shameful pasts marred by discrimination. somewhere along the line their accent became stupid while ours became boring and of course the geography of the land shaped our countries in dramatically different fashions, but overall i’m surprised there’s not more camaraderie between the us and australia. perhaps its because we’ve broken the shackles that had bound us to our heritage while the aussies still suckle at the teat of royalty? merely conjecture of course but i do believe they love the crown more than the brits themselves.
it seems a bit dismissive and simple to set the two up in a one on one of “which is the better” because, well that reduces two colorful and diverse nations to tiny little buckets, so i won't! except to say: USA! USA! USA! but i am returning from a visit with friends who live in the manly area of sydney which is across the bay on a northern peninsula. you can traverse from one harbor to the opposite in about 10 minutes by foot. the peninsula is defined by dramatic forested cliffsides that separate lovely white sand beaches. it is beautiful. which only served to underline how desensitized to australia’s beauty i had become, which in turn made me realize how desensitized to america’s beauty i have been. having been all over my great nation, i’m not entirely sure how it happened. i’ve seen our purple mountains majesty, our fruited plains, i’ve visited beaches on either coast, mountains out west and up north, camped, hiked, swam, drove…i have bore witness. and yet i still find it easy to dismiss at times.
this isn’t to say i’m now filled with nationalistic fervor. i have just renewed my appreciation for our (speaking to my fellow americans) beautiful homeland. while i don’t agree with those who refuse to leave its guarded borders, i can understand the ease of doing so. we do, more or less, have it all; a nation of privileged beauty. some of my english friends have committed tooth and nail to make it here, to make here it, but even half way through i think i realized i didn’t really care. i have a big beautiful country to return to so why should i? i wonder, am i trying to rationalize my imminent departure and make myself feel happy about my return stateside? possibly. but i think its also a genuine feeling of love for a much maligned country, both publicly and personally.
so here's to you america, you big, beautiful, difficult, complicated baby. i'll be seeing you in less than a month so you better not disappoint.
oh and here's some pictures of sydney why not.
we crawled down to this semi-hidden cliffside cave. doesn't really give a good perspective of how steep the drop/how amazing the view but we did our best successful explorers pose anyway.
the drop, again, perspective...
animated gif y'all!
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