England's Green and Pleasant Land

I was privileged to take a journey by train through the heart of England's splendid countryside this week. There is nothing like the rolling hills and pastoral landscape this side of heaven! I have lived in the USA for more than half my life, but I will always call England my home. My cell phone plays 'God Save the Queen' every time I have an incoming call! It is in my heart and my soul. Funny really for one who in their teenage years was convinced that they had been born in the wrong country! I couldn't wait to get to America, where I believed people were real and spoke the truth about themselves and how they felt.

Of course the beauty of the land and the sense of community in the towns and villages do not make up for the reality that folk from the Old World are too deferent for words and much to shy and seemingly afraid to be themselves. It is no wonder that I was attracted to a culture that seemed to put feelings first, where people did not hesitate to say what they thought. The very brashness and self promotion that turns one off the stereotypical Texas tourist at the same time attracted one who felt that a cup of tea did not cure all the problems of life, it just deferred them; one who felt restrained from speaking the truth for fear of offending the sensibilities of others.

My duality of citizenship has given me a unique perspective on the Old and the New and the truth lies somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic! It is in appreciating our oneness and interconnectedness that we best see ourselves as creatures of balance and harmony. I can be equally thrilled by a manicured English garden in Kent or the steamy French Quarter in New Orleans. By the wildness of Dartmoor or the glitter of Times Square in New York! Just as at peace on a crowded Florida beach as climbing the barren peak of Mount Snowdon in Wales. As happy to sit with my aged Uncle and Aunt over a Devonshire Cream Tea or to dance 'til dawn in an edgy Miami nightclub. Grasping the moment and living it with reckless abandon is the answer to the conflicting messages that others might use to control the experience and fullness of our lives.

I am glad that I am an Englishman and I am glad that I am an American because to be both gives me the perspective of a citizen of the world and provides the opportunity to see life from many points of view. That these worlds are different is an understatement, that they can complete each other is the value that I see. We have something to learn from every culture, not to conclude that one is right and the other wrong, but rather to see the complements so ones world view can be enlarged and expanded. If there is one lesson that I will always be grateful for it would be that the world over - and I have travelled to 44 countries in my 54 years - people all share the same desires to be known, to love and be loved and to feel part of a community. Who has the best model? None and all. By blending the spirit of each culture we can together find a way to peace on earth, English and German, American and Arab, Chinese and Israeli. We are one family, diverse and individual yet bound by our common humanity and oneness of spirit!

God Bless America and God Save the Queen!

With Love and Peace!

Geoff