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A few months ago, when I was planning
my trip overseas, or more precisely back to
the US after two years, I was full of doubts.
Shortly before, there had been in the White
House a still unbelievable rift between the
two presidents of two sovereign countries;
a certain eccentric businessman in a T-shirt
with his son on his shoulders had "temporarily"
settled into the Oval Office, and his young
IT guys, fresh unplugged off their computers,
had started deciding which state processes
were important and which were not, and
how many people and resources each state
agency needed for its work. What remains
incomprehensible to me, is that American
veterans, who served the world order and
democratic principles in various conflicts
around the world - especially, for me, those
of World War II - the “Greatest Generation,” -
suddenly became something that can be
mocked with impunity, ridiculed, trivialized,
and their sacrifices downplayed. Evil suddenly
seems not to be evil, and the devil is not called
by his true name. It is as if business should be
more important than truth and principles that
have been fought for over centuries. This was,
and still is, incomprehensible to me.
I know I've taken it very briefly and
certainly simplistically. Things are much more
complicated than I can list here, and at the
same time, so much has happened in the last
few months that an article of this type would
not be sufficient. Above all, this talking is not
meant to be directly about what I have outlined.
I just wanted to give you an idea of the state
of mind I was in when I was arranging our air
tickets, deciding how long we would spend
overseas, and whether I should even look
forward to going there. I knew very well that
it simply couldn't be the same America I had
visited before and loved. And I also knew that
the country was more divided than before.
On the other hand, I knew that I would meet
long-time close friends there, people I love,
and that I would be doing things we have in
common. When I mentioned the divide that
separates the people of that country, I also
knew that among my friends there are people
on both sides of that divide. I struggled with
how to approach these issues, how to find
a balance, how not to hide my view of the world
while at the same time not rudely meddling in
things that, in fact, are none of my business.
I won't go into too much detail here about
the purpose of my visit to the United States in
May this year. It was a very interesting topic.
Anyway, anyone who is interested can read my
editorial in the May issue of the EMD magazine.
It is available to read for free for those of you
who did not purchase EMD... Yet, of course,
I recommend doing so, because there are much
EXPEDITION TO MAGALAND
Jan Zdiarský
INFO Eduard102
June 2025