Tail End Charlie
Expedition to Magaland
Text: Jan Zdiarský
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 more interesting things there than my editorial. Besides, the purchase will pay off if you use the discount coupon from the magazine when ordering from the Eduard webstore. Forgive me for this important advertising interlude, and now we can continue...
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 the long run, outweigh the soul of the nation. That soul is either rotten or good. And the American soul has shown itself to be good once again. Such a soul develops over many generations, and those generations have their own timetable, which is different from the one or two terms of a president. We can say that we will simply wait it out, even if it takes a long time to repair the damage.
Despite my apparent praise, I cannot resist one observation. And perhaps it is typical of modern US. A good 80 percent of the billboards on highways and in cities had a single theme (admittedly, we were there outside of any election period) – legal services. Smiling lawyers with bleached teeth and a sparkle in their eyes offered their services – one after another, sometimes 50 meters apart. Most of them represented clients in car accident cases. But also in workplace accidents, divorces, and many other things. These weren't billboards for lawn mowers, popular drinks, or restaurants around the corner. They were lawyers, law firms, lawyers, and more lawyers. There were an incredible number of such advertisements on the road between Dallas and Houston and on other areas as well. And I wonder if there isn't something wrong with a country where, as it seems, the wheels of money are mainly driven by the need to fleece someone, to squeeze money out of them, i.e., a nation that needs advertisements mainly for lawyers.
My fears about going to Magaland were dispelled by friends who were the same as before, wonderful, amazing, and inspiring. I won't pretend that I didn't notice the divides I feared. I saw them and felt them. But under the influence of the amazing people I met there, those divides seemed very shallow. I guess it's true that politicians shout, stir up crowds, are pervasive and loud. But what a country is like, what a nation is like, depends mainly on its people. They are the face and backbone of their country. Even the screaming crowds are not a true reflection of the country and its people. And in that respect, I was not disappointed. America has remained for me as it always was and as I loved it before. Because it is made up of people. And they are like everywhere else – kind, considerate, polite, warm-hearted and self-sacrificing, or also devious, calculating, cowardly, cunning and malicious. In Magaland just like at anywhere else.