Seeing America from Abroad

*Due to time zone differences, this is going out Monday instead of Sunday. Time is a strange thing.

Find your healing through writing, yoga practices, and community in the FREE monthly Write to Heal Community Circle ~ Tuesday, June 24 from 7:45pm-8:30pm EST on Zoom and will focus on traveling outside of our spaces, including our comfort zones. We’ll write with 5 journal prompts over 5 minutes each and end with a brief share circle. Join Me!

I’ve spent the last ten days outside of America. First in Ireland for work, followed by time in England for fun. As I write on this beautiful afternoon, I am at a friend’s house in Hereford, sitting on the back patio with the wind blowing the laundry on the line and a wind chime enchanting the air. It’s warm, quiet and serene, with ivy crawling up the brick wall and lush greens below a pale blue sky.

That’s why our friends, Genevieve and Adam, moved here from America just before COVID hit. They were seeking peace and kinship. Adam’s family is from England so it was his coming home - and her return to a place away from the turmoil in America.

Me and Gen in her backyard during a BBQ

Next week, I’ll write about our trip to a town nearby called Hay-on-Wye, the world’s first Book Town, where I became Queen of the Books ~ but for now, I’m writing just a quick piece before we head to climb a nearby mountain.

The accents here have been fun to listen to, especially my friend’s children. They left as a family of five but are now a family of six with the youngest being just four years old. They all have English accents now, except the teenage daughter, who is refusing to lose her uniqueness and holding on tight to her American accent.

Lovely is the most common word I’ve heard so far, and it has been used to describe everything from the weather to the tea to the people. I’ve recognized many statements end with a question asking for agreement, showcasing the hope of everyone to be on the same page.

We are having just the best time, aren’t we? Now this is a proper pot of tea; life across the pond is quite lovely, isn’t it? You are looking beautiful today, aren’t you?

Agreements seem to come easily here, but perhaps I’m seeing through rose-colored glasses at a life outside of America. In the states, time has been marred by so much disagreement, as every issue has been polarized over the last many years.

People don’t seem to want to find agreement, even about something as simple as our humanity.

All people, including immigrants, should be treated with dignity and respect, shouldn’t they? Ignoring due process is wrong, isn’t it? Immigration agents taking people without showing a proper warrant, and hiding their ID badge and face, is basically kidnapping, isn’t it?

I haven’t watched the American news or scrolled through my phone much at all. The disconnection has been a nice reprieve as it has allowed me to reconnect with the people right in front of me and the places I’m exploring.

But this morning, as we sipped tea and ate toast, I was told that America bombed Iran overnight. We are being told that there were signals of Iran developing nuclear weapons within a mountain, and only our bombs in America are big enough to bust through the rock and make an impact.

Sounds a lot like when Americans were told there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I can only hope we aren’t beginning another endless war in the Middle East.

America Through European Eyes

Throughout our time in Ireland and England, Trump and today’s America came up a few times, never in a way that made me proud to be an American.

During the 4 days of the International Health Promoting Campuses Network Conference in Ireland, the chaos in America came up multiple times. Education and health are the two main topics for our profession and those two services are being gutted in America.

A speaker from Canada mentioned their “southern neighbor who doesn’t seem to understand the concepts of health anymore,” followed by, “it’s becoming a weird place down there!” This comment led to many laughs and nods of agreement.

I thought simply, they aren’t wrong. As I said last week, it feels strange as we’re living in the upside-down!

America as “the weird place” became the vernacular for the rest of the conference. An American speaker later introduced herself as “Vice President of a college in that weird place.” America is becoming a weird place with key people in positions of power trying to actively dismantle the agency they are nominated to run.

Two examples, using Education and Health as the two topics most relevant to the conference work were mentioned during the event:

• World Wrestling Federation President, Linda McMahon, who is now Secretary of Education: she stated that the Final Mission of the Department of Education will be to dismantle it.

• The Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK, JR.: he recently fired all 17 sitting members of a vaccine advisory panel. Though he says that unbiased science is the goal, he is starting to appoint the new members, many of whom appear to have quite biased backgrounds.

After work-related conversations about America took place at the conference in Ireland, more general and curious questions came during our time in England. During a BBQ held at our friend’s place, a man leaned in and asked with a quiet concern, “Yeah, how’s it going with Trump in charge?”

I shared some of what I’m seeing regarding immigration raids and how I am trying to protest, but also how I feel helpless about it all. Like a train wreck, the destruction is overwhelming. “It feels like a real uphill battle.” He agreed with my concerns, saying what he is seeing is “quite disturbing indeed.”

A woman then shared her fear with me about America, saying it sounds too familiar to Europe one hundred years ago, with the rise of the far-right back then. Her eyes widened to meet her eye-brows, “It feels quite similar.”

I agreed in the English way, “It doesn’t look good, does it?”

Journal Prompts:

1. Catching up with old friends is a real joy. Do you have any friends who have moved away or friends that you haven’t spoken to in a while? Write about what you loved about the person or your relationship and then use this as an invitation to reach out to reconnect with them.

2. The conference I traveled for was the International Health-Promoting Campuses Network Summit, and that organization was created to help colleges enhance the well-being of people, places, and the planet while recognizing the interconnection of those three. Write about how you take care of yourself, the people around you, the places you call home, and the planet - and consider the ways the well-being of each is connected to the others.

3. Looking from the outside in can provide valuable insight. Try to take a step outside of your mind to see things from other perspectives. The best way to do that is to ask. Ask someone else what they see in you - your strengths, your abilities, your challenges, and areas for growth. Write about how it feels to get feedback from someone on the outside.

Thank you for reading Write to Heal. Please hit that heart button❤️if you made it this far and share it with someone you think would enjoy it or benefit from it ~