There´s No Place Like Home

We all know the lines from the song—“Be it ever so humble, there´s no place like home.” As I watch in horror as the COVID-19 virus and political divisiveness devastates the US, I have a new version of those lines—“Be it ever so humble, there´s no place that´s home.”

I realize that a significant part of the comfort I felt in returning to the US and living in Cottonwood, AZ, is that Cottonwood is very much like the small Kansas town I grew up in. The good part is that the people around me remind me of Kansas, and the bad part is that these same people remind me of Kansas—complete with rampant American exceptionalism, Christian fundamentalism, and racism.

Yesterday, while I was waiting in the parking lot for Elyn to complete her dental appointment, I saw two rusty pickup trucks flying faded American flags. What I didn´t see, but can confidently predict were there, are the multiple guns in their in-cabin gun racks. Many of these are the same “good” people who keep it unsafe for black American citizens to live in the USA. I know about racism, and sexism because I grew up with it (see my previous post HERE). I grew up with it—but being in the midst of it again is extremely uncomfortable. In fact, it reminds me of why I couldn´t wait to get out of the small Kansas town that would never have permitted me to have the life I have enjoyed.

Now, given that Arizona is at the top of the list of most COVID-19 cases per capita (not to mention hard-core Trumpism), what do Elyn and I do? Clearly, returning to Spain (which appears to have weathered the pandemic with extremely stringent measures to enforce social distancing) is not possible at this time. I believe that we are as safe here as we would be if we were to try to travel back to Spain. We have our ongoing shelter-in-place strategy, including taking advantage of the many possibilities for delivery of goods and services. We simply must try to protect ourselves from the crazy, good hearted, mask-rejecting, Americans all around us as they play Russian Roulette with the pandemic threatening their—and our—lives. And we must continue to smile graciously and ignore the plain fact that most of these good people are brainwashed beyond recognition with their ideas of American exceptionalism and their God-given right to hate their neighbors if they happen to be people of color, or of a different religion, sexual preference, or who speak a different language.

Is my problem the political climate, the limited perspective of the people, or the pandemic? I think it is all of the above. The pandemic seems to bring all the other problems to the forefront. Or is it simply that we have been isolated for too long? Maybe.

Is there no place that´s home for us? It appears likely that is the case, so we must take advantage of the beauty and comfort of any place we happen to find ourselves in. Cottonwood is that place at the moment, and it certainly is beautiful and comfortable here.

So, welcome back to the USA!