So long to America ...

I've been so rushed that I haven't had time to properly reflect on leaving the land of my birth. I don't think I'm really going to miss the United States that much. I hear funny accents around me right now, now that I'm in London, and am struggling a bit to understand clearly, so it's a bit disorienting, but all that will become easier with time. Other things will be challenging to begin with, but every move comes with some adjustments. I think I'm going to like it here.

What to say about America ... I don't hate it, but I'm ashamed for it. I love it in the way a parent loves a troubled child, but I really do want it to change its ways. We've driven dangerously off track. That a renegade with a video camera, money, and some fanatical followers can bring an entire country to a standstill just by sneaking up and shouting "boo!" should tell us that we're no longer the bold America of our own myth-making. How weird is it? Nobody could get through security at Dulles for 15 minutes after checking my bags. Yes, TSA, the skies will be really really safe when nobody wants to fly any more.

But more than that, we now have a political culture that's anti-science, anti-knowledge, and anti-progress, and what's more, no longer cares that it's looking backward instead of forward and celebrates its own unawareness as a badge of courage. Is the UK perfect? Probably not. Would I have come here had I not been offered a great opportunity? Probably not. But it's looking like a really good choice right now.

These are not particularly well-constructed thoughts. Sleep was difficult even in the Virgin Atlantic "snooze section," so I'm feeling at least a little disoriented. My body still thinks it's 4 in the morning. More later.