Strana 103
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As the departure for the US drew nearer,
anticipation began to prevail over uncertainty,
and fears turned into curiosity. Where and
how would I experience the changes and
uncertainty resulting from the unpredictability
of the current leadership of that country?
Admittedly, I was amazed right from the
begin, after getting off the plane after a more
than ten-hour tiring journey from Helsinki to
Dallas, when the first person who welcomed
me in the “new USA” was an immigration
administration employee who instructed
me in Spanish (!) on how to proceed to the
officer who would decide whether I would be
allowed to enter the country. This government
official did not seem to speak English at all,
as he continued to respond in Spanish to my
questions in English. I guess that's okay, but
it still surprised me. Immediately afterwards,
we met a young man in a white sweatshirt with
a large black MAGA logo on his chest. Really
colorful. Well, this is going to be interesting,
I thought to myself as I approached the
immigration officer in the booth. He was a large,
dark African American, and he was incredibly
kind and polite, praising my every response to
his requests and thanking me for everything
I did or said according to his instructions.
I don't think I've ever had such a warm and
smooth welcome to that country as I did then.
Well, I spent about ten days there and
observed carefully. I met a lot of people of
different ages and social groups, traveled
hundreds of miles in the Dallas-Houston-New
Orleans triangle and back, slept in hotels of
the lowest and highest categories, and talked
with my friends and with people I know only
casually, about what makes us happy and what
bothers us.
And from my outside perspective, I have to
say that there weren't really any big surprises.
I don't know how deep is the illness with the
United States in general, but it is certainly sick,
like our entire civilization, our world. And it is
up to us, and indeed all of us together, to figure
out how to deal with it. Regardless of whether
our president is a great guy or a mucker. Such
a president, even if he has power and can do
a lot of good or a lot of harm, does not, in
TAIL END CHARLIE
INFO Eduard
103
June 2025