DAY 5 ON THE PACIFIC: COMING CLOSER TO CIVILISATION ?
Since we left Seattle several days ago we haven't seen anything but water around us. Today we see some waste in the water. This probably means that we are coming closer to what is called civilisation :-(
Our fantastic trip reminds us of an old music hall song going like this: I signed up with the Navy to see the world. But what did I see? The sea! This is actually for us very positive. We love the sea. But we are also happy that we will make "landfall" at some stage :-)
Our mornings are - like back home - very important, almost sacred. After or sometimes during breakfast we enjoy our so-called "Home-University". Also here at sea. Studying and learning new things - or things we perhaps have forgotten :-) Today we updated our knowledge about the famous German author Siegfried Lenz. Why? Because Liselotte is reading a very interesting book written by him. And we also had a go at the history around Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This was the day when the self-overconfident Imperial Japanese leadership made one of their biggest mistakes ever by attacking the US and thereby bringing that country into the war. Good for most of us in the longer run. But that was probably not the intention of the Japanese.
The very well functioning internet on board makes it possible now and then also from here to do something good for Europe. Such as supporting the new campaign for internet voting in the future, also for expats around the world. Spreading the word about this campaign is very important. Have a look at this website: https://euromonde.eu/
And last, but not least: being in the US at the time of the recent massacre in Las Vegas we cannot avoid being strongly moved by this terrible act. Not so much by the monster, who did this mega-crime. Such monsters will always be around. But it is the simple fact that such crimes are facilitated by the huge number of firearms in more or less circulation in this country. About 300 million guns are in the hands of the population - almost one per inhabitant! Yes, it is true that 78 % of the Americans do not have any. This still leaves 71 million people with firearms. About 3% own half of the arms - or 15 in average per person. Is that reasonable? Is that clever politics? Its is based on an old, outdated rule from 1791 - more than 200 years ago, when everything - arms, society, the law - was Very different from today. New figures here tell us that there are 93 deaths caused by firearms - every day. It is not surprising that the roll-everything reasonable-back-president at the moment will take no initiative to change this situation. On the contrary. But let us hope that these new mass killings after all will be a wake-up call to make the US a reasonable modern and safe country - getting rid of as many as possible of these terrible and dangerous firearms. One first step could be to do like the Australians did recently: they made an amnesty for people to hand in their weapons. Altogether 51.000 guns were delivered to the authorities over three months. Yes, there are many more guns out there. But for sure, there are 51.000 guns less now. Perhaps such an initiative could be taken by one or more US states just to show the way. Time is over for politicians just to sit passively on their hands!!!
Our fantastic trip reminds us of an old music hall song going like this: I signed up with the Navy to see the world. But what did I see? The sea! This is actually for us very positive. We love the sea. But we are also happy that we will make "landfall" at some stage :-)
Our mornings are - like back home - very important, almost sacred. After or sometimes during breakfast we enjoy our so-called "Home-University". Also here at sea. Studying and learning new things - or things we perhaps have forgotten :-) Today we updated our knowledge about the famous German author Siegfried Lenz. Why? Because Liselotte is reading a very interesting book written by him. And we also had a go at the history around Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This was the day when the self-overconfident Imperial Japanese leadership made one of their biggest mistakes ever by attacking the US and thereby bringing that country into the war. Good for most of us in the longer run. But that was probably not the intention of the Japanese.
The very well functioning internet on board makes it possible now and then also from here to do something good for Europe. Such as supporting the new campaign for internet voting in the future, also for expats around the world. Spreading the word about this campaign is very important. Have a look at this website: https://euromonde.eu/
And last, but not least: being in the US at the time of the recent massacre in Las Vegas we cannot avoid being strongly moved by this terrible act. Not so much by the monster, who did this mega-crime. Such monsters will always be around. But it is the simple fact that such crimes are facilitated by the huge number of firearms in more or less circulation in this country. About 300 million guns are in the hands of the population - almost one per inhabitant! Yes, it is true that 78 % of the Americans do not have any. This still leaves 71 million people with firearms. About 3% own half of the arms - or 15 in average per person. Is that reasonable? Is that clever politics? Its is based on an old, outdated rule from 1791 - more than 200 years ago, when everything - arms, society, the law - was Very different from today. New figures here tell us that there are 93 deaths caused by firearms - every day. It is not surprising that the roll-everything reasonable-back-president at the moment will take no initiative to change this situation. On the contrary. But let us hope that these new mass killings after all will be a wake-up call to make the US a reasonable modern and safe country - getting rid of as many as possible of these terrible and dangerous firearms. One first step could be to do like the Australians did recently: they made an amnesty for people to hand in their weapons. Altogether 51.000 guns were delivered to the authorities over three months. Yes, there are many more guns out there. But for sure, there are 51.000 guns less now. Perhaps such an initiative could be taken by one or more US states just to show the way. Time is over for politicians just to sit passively on their hands!!!
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