Once upon a specific time... May 30, 2011 to be exact. at 6:55am CST. I flew away from Springfield... Once again.
This time, I was going to London via connecting flight in Dallas, TX. In Dallas, I remember slipping in and out of consciousness because I only slept for an hour the night before my flight. The sandman was finally catching up to me.
I set an alarm to continue waking myself to prevent me missing the connecting flight. Once awake, I watched the Smallville finale (even though I gave up on the series after season 6, the finale was worth it though). After my super-cape fix, I watched lecture 1 on the Visual Exploration of Rome from The Teaching Company (TTC: http://www.thegreatcourses.com/ ) and a documentary on Friedrich Nietzsche. Yeah, I know. My entertainment doesn't usually follow the norm of common prime time network TV like the masses. Regardless, that's how I keep my brain awake when I need to be willfully conscious.
I made my connecting flight and was asleep as soon as my seat belt was on. I slept through take-off and woke up to the in-flight film. The flight over was pretty standard. I arrived in London around 8am. I planned to visit my good friend John H. while I was passing through. I took the tube from Heathrow into London on the Pickadilly line and transferred onto the Jubilee line to reach John's flat. I got there around 10am. He buzzed me up and we caught up for awhile and then went to lunch at a nearby pub. We both had delicious shepherd's pie with green beans and sweet mashers. After lunch I was still nappy, so we went back to the flat and I layed down to rest my eyes. I woke up at 8pm! Two days of jet lag apparently took it's toll. When I woke up, John and one of his flatmates Johnny were making 'bangers and mash' (sausage and mashed potatoes) See Aldous Snow for reference here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88bb2FQWfeM
We all sat down for the British snack. Soon thereafter, Todd (from Australia) came home and we all spent time looking at pictures from the 2008 Egypt-Jordan trip that John and I took together. Oliver, another of John's flatmates, came home around 11 and joined in when Todd and Johnny were going off to bed. We stayed up and talked about living in the UK. There is a growing population of Muslims in the UK, similar to France. There appears to be public sentiment that the British gov't has become so worried about offending Muslims that they fear violent repercussions as if they were all radicals. I heard stories about people being fired from gov't jobs because of this. There was recent news about a newly built community center that took advantage of natural light with many large windows in the architecture to cut energy expenses, and the windows were painted over because Muslim women complained about being seen publicly when using the facilities. So now, the building has been "burka'ed" which defeats any aesthetics that it had going for it. I was taken back by a story of a nurse who was fired for wearing the symbol of the cross on her necklace at the hospital when a patient said it was offensive. Her boss said she couldn't wear it at work anymore. She refused to not wear it as it was a symbol of her religious belief and she had worn it since she was a child. She was terminated from her job for this. Another news story told about a teacher that had been beaten near death because of a disagreement in class with some of her students.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My friends sounded surprised themselves in the telling of it.I couldn't believe the tension that was being described between religious people groups in London. I thought aggression on behalf of religious belief was understood as archaic and barbarous by the modern mind. All the Muslims I've known personally have been nothing but nice and considerate of others. They'd not be willing to stand against another's liberties in order to force their own beliefs. Strange how different people can act in a varied environment. I was also surprised to find that the general concensus on the killing of Osama bin Laden was that the Americans should have brought him in for trial. That the U.S. acted too brashly, as 'cowboys' by killing him. Most headlines in the UK focused on the fear of coming repercussions rather than merit of justice served.
In retrospect, this was at a time in London right before the Riots in the summer of 2011. A memory that still frustrates me and makes me wrench my hands into fists because of the ugly demonstration of uneducated thugs acting like animals rather than men. There were viral videos each day of the riots. While London was burning we watched online. It made me sick. Images of Rorschach's vision of the world. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The dregs of society don't deserve this paradise that our mothers and fathers of history have labored to provide for us!
What happened to Britain? It used to be Great! Now it's a country led by a parliament plagued with worry and fear. I once spoke to retired foreign legionaires and soldiers of the United Nations. They told me British military policy used to dictate that you take out the leading aggressor of a threat first and then watch as the situation dissolves quickly and everyone else falls back in line. That was what they did on foreign soil. Now that the problem is on their front lawns, the Prime Minister wouldn't even declare martial law and bring out military to restore order. I watched a video of a student getting beaten and robbed by two thugs in broad daylight on a busy street. No one did anything about it! The person taking the video was on a residential 2nd floor balcony recording the chaos street side. Where is the justice that should be in the hearts of all good men? Where was the desire to prevent the wicked from harming your fellow man? Tyranny is a cancer to person and society. Pisses me off just thinking about it. I'll finish writing another time...
