Yesterday I spent the day at a Pumpkin Chucking festival in rural New Hampshire. It’s quite an event. Did you know that there’s a group of people who spend their spare time building machines specifically designed to throw pumpkins? Seriously, it’s a thing. They’ve got catapults and air cannons, and these things launch pumpkins so fast and so high, you can hardly get a glimpse of them before they are out of sight. The national championship machines (yes, there is such a thing) send the pumpkins over 3,000 feet.
Once a pumpkin-throwing machine gets retired, they repurpose it for other tasks. Yesterday’s tasks including launching a motorcycle, a boat, and a piano. If you’ve never seen a piano fly through the air, you haven’t lived. I know it’s a travesty to ruin a piano. But it was a site to see.
This event drew a group of fun-loving but politically conservative enthusiasts. I overheard many conversations about Trump vs. Hillary, and I had to resist the urge to argue several view points over the course of the day. One of the things that dissuaded me from opening up such a discussion was the knowledge that a large percentage of the attendees were probably packing heat, this being rural New Hampshire. Gun advocates might feel safer knowing that just about everyone at that event was armed., but I don't like wondering if I might get caught in the crossfire of a disagreement over who’s next in line for french fries. Shooting pumpkins is about all the violence I can take in one day.
These overheard conversations got me wondering what kind of country we are living in these days. I can’t tell you how much I hate to say that. I’ve always been annoyed at the whiners who wax nostalgic about the good ole days when things were so much better than they are now. But I’m having a hard time feeling patriotic when every day there is fresh news of toddlers shooting their siblings or husbands shooting their wives or drunks shooting their taxi drivers. Just the other day 2 police officers in Boston got shot while responding to a domestic violence call.
Add to that the rotten choices we’ve got for presidential candidates this year, and I’m wondering what it would be like to live in another country. I hear Denmark is lovely. Whether it ends up being President Trump or President Clinton, it’s going to be embarrassing to know that we are represented so poorly on the world stage for the next 4 years. My daughter attended a marching band event this past weekend that included 3000 high school musicians. She talked about how proud she was to be part of one of the most disciplined groups at the event. As I listened to her talking about pride, it made me realize that I’m not proud to be an American any more. I imagine that if I was traveling abroad right now, and someone asked me where I’m from, I’d be a little sheepish about telling them. My answer would be something like, “I’m from the US, but I don’t carry a gun and I don’t think people should get shot just for being black and I never grab anyone’s privates without their consent”. I wonder how tempted I’d be to lie - can I successfully pull off an Australian accent, I wonder?
Like so many other people, I’m trying to figure out how to deal with the heinous options we’ve got this November. Honestly, I think we’re screwed no matter who gets elected. I know a lot of people who have decided not to vote this time around, and I get that. I thought about it too. I’ve decided that I’m not going to go down that road though. I’ve decided that I’m not going to vote for Hillary or Donald or Gary or Jill. Instead, I’m going to be voting AGAINST various things. I'll vote against relaxing gun controls. I'll vote against racial profiling. I'll vote against misogyny. I'll vote against a big-mouthed braggart that I think might spawn a war. This is why I’ve decided that I need to vote, no matter how odious a task it is.
So back to Denmark. Did you know they have the happiest people on earth? There’s an annual survey called “The World Happiness Index”. It asks people a bunch of different questions about how happy they are with various aspects of their life. The Nordic countries top the list, with Denmark taking the top prize this year. The crime rates are low, the poverty rate is low, they work less hours but make more money. They’ve got an outstanding healthcare system, and it’s free. Sounds pretty good to me. The only reason I’m not packing right now? It’s because I’d need to convince my entire extended family to move over there with me, and I’m thinking that might not happen. That and the fact that I don’t speak Danish.
So I’m holding out hope that in 4 years, I’ll see the potential for once again being proud to be an American. I expect (and fervently hope) that in 4 years, we’ll see a drastic improvement in the quality of our presidential candidates. And in the meantime, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to look into Danish lessons.
Tak for at lytte til min rant. Stem godt, mine venner!
Kimba
Photo Credits: Denmark photo: deSousa, Joe. "Nyhavn, Copenhagen". 8 July 2012. Online image. Flickr. 20 October 2016. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/mustangjoe/7541745348/in/photolist-8Ux2y2-curq9d-cBPq4Y-cCRASd-cCiX6N-cvDXn9-bF3e16-cLBQM5-bF3i8D-67gTFe-6vai99-dz8wTr-ccARjL-cvK5oL-cvGofj-cDyLSb-cZBZHC-bP394k-dkGkFq-daBTuc-awDes1-6mrj7W-dPfN23-ddVZUT-qK1tGz-67kJDJ-dqT3Xh-R3hwok-Ag6KDM-QpMbTG-pNaXnu-qsKtJR-bJhmkp-qsAPG5-dW2YFz-cSRmvN-HsDmiZ-dg3bgE-wWzyao-qsByK1-duQKzA-A2nMpX-9G23Q2-9G4Y9u-9G5aJs-9G24iP-MqbZRc-ytT4Wn-wK5jMo-xJg3gw>
Peace Sign Image: photo credit: Free Grunge Textures - www.freestock.ca. Peace Grunge Sign - Sepia via photopin (license)
All other image: Martin, Kimberlee. October 2016.
© Kimberlee Martin, 2016. All rights reserved.