GREETINGS, from San Diego, California!
San Diego, to say the least, is beautiful. The scenery sets a very pleasant mood, one that calls out to you to be just as sunny on the inside as it is outside. It calls to your imagination. I love that. My first day here, I saw a man that had all white hair skateboarding down a hill. Fast. I'd peg him as perhaps a golfer back home, somebody's father, with an office job in middle to upper management in finance or accounting. But when this man in the bright yellow top and matching helmet and knee-pads whizzed down the street, I saw a pretty impressive skateboarder in terrific shape, a thrill seeker who moved as quick as a nineteen year old. It was cool.
And that is pretty much how one could sum up San Diego: Cool.
I found myself also bringing my imagination and creativity to life. I went shopping and bought things that I would normally overlook, and decided not to play it so safe. There is nothing wrong tastefully accentuating a body that works hard to maintain its aesthetic appeal. That was a mouthful to say, so let's just say I got pretty creative and a few receipts later, I didn't regret spending a single penny.
With all of the trendy things to wear, do and eat, it's easy to forget the world's problems, or even some things that are a bit closer to home. The palm trees and the weather, the tans, beaches, mountains and nice cars, prestigious universities and cool hippy locals are easy reasons to fall in love with San Diego. It's liberal, it's safe, it's fun and if you can afford it, you can live here.
As I was taking in all of San Diego at a very high altitude a few days ago, I thought about something. How can a city with all of this promise, with scenery that looks like it were taken off of a movie set, be in the same country where people are starving and living in shacks? What I was looking at were the winners of the capitalist machine, a city ripe with examples of what you can have if you work hard. I mean, this is supposed to be true. But it is only true if you have everything else that this city has: a superb education system, a tax rate that people can afford, initiatives that are taking place here but nowhere else in most other major cities in the United States (like urban farming) and jobs. The fact is, the innate right to have access to these things are limited to a very small part of the nation that is not struggling to pay bills, feed their children and provide a decent education. So, we know what the problems are. How, though, do we fix them?
As beautiful as the scenery was atop that mountain, my thoughts kind of led me to feel like America as a whole has become a place where absurd circumstances have become less apparent to a lot of people. We've become too desensitized to what is morally sound, to help others, and to understand that it may require some leg work from the more fortunate, and more capable. After all, we all want San Diego to be a universal reality, not just another utopian dream. And that takes universal effort, no?
Just saying.
I love it here, though. My head is churning with an action plan.
