Some Reflections On Leaving My Country, Possibly For Good--



 Some Reflections On Leaving My Country, Possibly For Good. 

August 6, 2021


I know that most of our friends lead busy lives, and won't have time for a long winded memoir from me. So I want to say some things which might be helpful or useful insights on this occasion of our departure within 48 hours. 

We have wonderful friends, many of whom we have drawn closer to as we have been getting ready to move. They have opened their hearts and homes to us, and been so helpful and giving that it has actually taken me by surprise. And I'm kicking myself for all of the lost time with them while we isolated ourselves. Don't make the mistake of missing the opportunity to trust and love your friends. 

The Pandemic has changed everyone without exception, both for the better and not. It has changed our values and lifestyle, our priorities in life and our appreciation for the blessings we have. It confirms the old adage which tells us that coming to grips with our own mortality can have a moralizing effect on us. Unfortunately, it has brought out the beast in far too many others. 

We have been compelled to think about the two intertwined issues of science and government in a completely different way, shaken out of the complacency and our sometimes superficial approach of the past. Facing the prospects of civil war, race war, deep economic hardship, and mass death from a Pandemic, has forced us to learn about new things, from civics, to race and gender, to epidemiology, to history and climate. Those people who immersed themselves in new knowledge have emerged with greater depth of insight and character, and are capable of giving real leadership in their various walks of life should they decide to take the plunge.

We have also been forced by events to take sides in a political war which is now entering its "hot phase". We have made new friends and strengthened our bonds with family, while breaking them with many as well. We have not experienced this since the Civil War 161 years ago, and most of us are still trying to make sense out of why. Some have been shocked and demoralized by this, and others saw it coming and have psychologically prepared for it, if such a thing is possible. 

The courage and honesty of those I love, (especially my wife Martha) are the things which give me hope for the future, despite the coming storm ahead of us. Sometimes the worst of crises and tragedy can serve a higher purpose, to strengthen the goodness in us. 

The most frightening thing to me is not simply the Pandemic or growing threat of civil conflict. It is the shortage of organized and effective political and intellectual leadership. Those who are giving us that seem more isolated and under threat by the day, and I don't see the new leadership stepping up in sufficient numbers or depth. This scares me more than anything. I fear that a generation which has been raised on the internet has substituted "Googling" for thinking, which is our most precious commodity. It is worth considering what each of us can do concretely in our own worlds to remedy this. 

I could say more, but I'll conclude with this for now. I love my Country, and my home which has been Philadelphia. But I love more what they were and not what they are becoming. Regardless, I feel that I know the American people well and I can see a pathway out of the current crisis, though I don't have all the answers or solutions. I will continue to try to find them and fight for them, and will likely not retire from that, ever. 

Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, I'll continue to write and think and use the mind that I have to help others solve their problems, big and small. I'm the oddball who has never cared much about getting rich and having status. But as I see it, just because we are moving doesn't mean we are disappearing. It just means we will have a lot more people to befriend, love, and help, in a different part of the world. And we will do it because that's what makes us happy. 

Love you all. Don't be strangers now! 😉

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