Gaia, the ancient Greek goddess or personification of the Earth. Happy Mother’s Day.

Googling around this morning, I came across gypsieElder.com, an intriguing website; intriguing in-part because the website’s name is so close to mine. GypsieElder.com is a heartfelt rant on the evils we do, and a call through personal guilt to do something about it. The site is well written and thought provoking, but it left me with a haunted feeling.

My first reaction was a touch of guilt. In contrast to solving the world’s problems, eldergypsies.com is a celebration of the freedom to travel and explore the world. One of its goals: to search out new experiences in glorious environments; to provide a feast of what the earth has to offer. Selfish prospect when compared to saving the world.
It is my hope that I will give back as well as “take” in my travels. I expect to work in some environments: to teach, to build, and to encourage where I can.

My second reaction was more telling. Gypsyelder.com is a bit naïve. I support its emotional plea, but some implicit assumptions trouble me. I get the site’s righteous indignation born of living in a country whose domestic and foreign policy is often abhorrent. But from an historical perspective, the US is no different than any other empire through-out history. “The Imperial Cruise” documents US policy at the turn of the century with a historical retrospective early in the book.

We, individually and as “these great united states”, are evolving. The liberties declared in the Declaration of Independence have only recently been granted to all. Women were chattel, blacks were slaves, women’s suffrage became law in the US in 1919, and segregation only ended in my lifetime.