Occupation of Independence

It is rare to get a punch in the gut when reading a history book.  But how would you react to this, from Lewis Dartnell's "Origins, How the Earth's History Shaped Human History"?:   "Ultimately it was Athens' dependence on grain imported along the sea lanes from the Black Sea that proved her fatal weakness. Falling upon the Athenian navy right in the narrow strait of the Hellespont, the Spartans utterly destroyed it.  The Peloponnesian War is a good illustration of the central importance of the geography of the seas and the vulnerability of vital maritime routes at narrow straits. Commanding such naval chokepoints, and thus a rival’s access to overseas resources, is often as important as controlling territory on land, and can determine the outcome of wars and the fate of civilisations." Dartnell wrote this 7 years before Trump-anyahu's War Against Iran.  It is rare to see such a tangible and pithy example of 'those who don't learn the lessons...

 It is time to come up for air.  I can only think and write about the problems of the world so much before I need to shift my attention to something more soothing.  Such as the prettiest field I have ever seen.  It was just outside of town (in west central Idaho).  Wouldn't it be nice to drive by agricultural fields and know every time what the crop is?!  Presumably this is barley or wheat:  It seemed like you could drown in there!  Lush fields of grain are sometimes featured in movies: think of the fantasy scene in "Gladiator" or the 'Kiss' scene in "Room With a View".  I wish I knew of more such scenes. The reader might think I am exaggerating the beauty of agricultural fields, and wonder why I don't show more mountains, arches, and cliffs from famous national parks in the western states.  Believe me, a person can get tired of lifeless rocks, trees without leaves, and cholla needles.  A person can get tired of endless drought and ...

 For better or worse I like to write about travel in terms of subjective experiences.  I prefer not to write about breathtakingly beautiful scenery, how many solar panels you need, or whether RV toilet paper should be one ply or two.  When you camp in the backcountry, and then return to civilization, you notice things that you probably wouldn't notice if you lived in town all the time.  In that sense, it is a 'travel experience.' Rolling into a gas station in the "big" city, I noticed a couple obese female customers.  Why oh why didn't they at least wear long pants and shirts?!  It is not exaggerating to say that they 'wounded' me with a special type of sadness. What was causing this reaction?  Was it just a male-sexist-pig being deprived of his fair share of eye candy?  No, I don't think so.  As a man gets older he places less emphasis on his own pleasure or excitement and looks at the Big Picture of the human condition. The punch in the gut...

 The introductory chapters of history books are usually marvelous to read.  But Big Pictures can sometimes become over-generalized, superficial verbiage.  So there is the opposite approach, using a tangible and specific event to serve as a metaphor to illustrate the Big Picture. Perhaps that is the approach future historians will take when discussing the end of the American Empire.  They will introduce their book with a comparison of the funeral in Iran and Trump's Great American State Fair, taking place on the same weekend. Did you have a chance to see videos at the street level of the funeral in Tehran?  I was impressed with how calm and long-suffering people were.  They needed hours just to get to it, after fighting the traffic of a giant city.  Where were the porta-potties and the food trucks?  It didn't seem like Iranians needed hats for that sun.  They stood shoulder to shoulder in triple digit (Fahrenheit) heat. Why!, it's as if t...