Since our last posting we have traveled from Livingston, TX to Lake Worth, Florida. (Lake Worth is a city South of West Palm Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale.) The trip east was uneventful. We stopped in northern Florida to visit my sister for a day and then moved on to Southern Florida.
I must say it was nice to reach the warm weather. It gets up in the 70’s during the day and perhaps in the high 40’s at night. It is fun, although really a little bit obnoxious, to read the weather page to see how cold it is where we have been, and where are friend and relatives live.
Christmas was fun. We spent it here with our son’s family and our daughter-in-law’s brother and parents were also here. It seems funny to have reached the stage of life where one does not really want presents. Living in an RV, there is really very little room for anything new, and we both pretty much have everything we need anyway. So – we had a very nice Christmas, got a few gifts, but happily not more than we can absorb.
Next week we go to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, for our annual medical stuff. The big event will be Dan’s evaluation for suitability for cochlear implant. We will keep you informed.
Following our cruise through the Caribbean, I have been thinking about what there is that makes different countries develop differently. Cost Rica, for example seems quite prosperous, and to be socially progressive. Jamaica, seemed very poor, and much of the population unschooled and barely getting by. Grand Cayman seems to do OK, probably much as a result of being a center for off-shore banking, which I gather is a scheme for tax avoidance by British and American citizens. Mexico, seems to have an emerging economy that stumbles much more than it should, given the resources the country has -- particularly in oil and agricultural capacity. It is hard to figure out why societies evolve so differently.
The Cost Ricans apparently attribute much of their prosperity to the fact that land was given to people to raise coffee, years ago, resulting in a prosperous middle class. I think slavery probably set back a substantial developed middle class in Jamaica. Still, I think there is something we are missing, to know why some societies develop with absence endemic widespread poverty.
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Southern Florida, warm weather.... How great that you can enjoy it all!
Your comments about the great differences in countries and people reminds me of the great diversity in the world. I so very much enjoyed beautiful music, beautiful people, as the old year passed, and the new year began. But the television was not following the poorer people of the world, those struggling to live, or fighting great oppression. These, also are part of the wonder of what we are as humans. To you, we wish a Happy 2006!
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