12 people came to coffee today. Of these 12, only 1 was American (me); 2 were from India, 2 from Japan, 1 from Australia, 1 from Canada, 1 from Mauritius, 2 from China, 1 from Taiwan, 1 from the Netherlands. This is typical here. Not only am I often the only woman around, but I'm almost always the only American. I get a good cross-section of opinion from lots of different backgrounds around the entire planet. (Sometimes I have to translate, because the clash of accents can be really disorienting!)
The general mood is optimistic and happy, even though most of these people are not citizens. All are very excited to say goodbye to Bush, (who is pretty much despised by all).
There was some mystification about the actual ceremony, and why it comes so long after the election. I think everyone sort of feels that way!
There was a lot of mystification about all the sermons and religious language. Several people asked me about it, and I explained that a lot of this religious stuff is relatively recent, since the Red Scare about the 'godless communists' in the 1950's. This was greeted with disbelief. Most agreed that pretty much the best thing about communism is that it is godless. (I neglected to take note of what the 2 Chinese people thought about this part of the discussion. Too bad, because it would be interesting to know what they think about it.) The general feeling was that they can't see how a supposedly secular government can be filled with all this religious pomp. I have to admit that I agree!
The Canadian was bent about the 'hero-worship' aspect of American politics. But they still have a queen up there, so he doesn't get to tell me 'How we do it in Canada...'. He caught a lot of flack for his criticism.
But all of these people see this day as a turning point, a moment when they no longer have to apologize or explain the politics of their choice of current country to their friends in their home country. The world is watching, from right here in tiny Socorro, NM!
Several are coming to my house this evening to watch (or re-watch) the speech, and lift a glass in celebration. Fun!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment