Happy Friday, All!
I must admit that I have a pretty powerful “T.G.I.F.” lined up for this morning! Feeling blessed in many many ways … Peace be still …
Wednesday, I had some challenges getting the e-mail out to “The Family” and tried and tried to resend it to no avail! Perhaps, one of the addresses was incorrect or perhaps someone doesn’t want to receive any more of them and had me “shut down”! That’s “the conspiracy theory” about the e-mail disappearance … like in other parts of the world’s affairs!! You can chuckle if you want because I am only kidding … conspiracy theory against John Cook … now THAT’S funny!
In my last few days here in Sabadell, which is like a suburb of Barcelona in the “famed” region of Catalunya, I have taken note of some pretty cool things. Sabadell, in particular, is a family oriented “town”, if you will. The people come out on holidays, like yesterday, and hang out with husband, wife, children and dogs and visit the restaurants that line the streets in the Centre of Sabadell near the mayor’s office, called The Ajuntamiento. The seniors have their own center and living location with helpers always available. Those senior citizens who are still able to walk the streets of Sabadell do so in couples … and hand in hand! When I tell you that I have not seen a fight or an argument nor even a car accident since I have been here, I re-emphasize my level of seriousness. The people are very civil … not looking for any conflict of any sort. Yet, as one may note from all of the events surrounding Catalunya’s “independence” here of late, they are awake in the concept of “democracy”. They have borrowed much of the flavor of movements started by Che Guevara and Martin Luther King, Jr. as they echo their desire for representation in the larger Spanish government … or separation! There have been multiple marches and activities, the carrying of and waving of the banner/flag of Catalunya at events like the one I attended yesterday in downtown Barcelona at Plaza Catalunya. The streets were shut down by the police, there were no incidents of “flag burning” or fighting, no throwing of beer bottles, cans or soft drinks. There was just an orderly peaceful gathering of people who occasionally chimed in on a “Viva Espana” chant coming from an apartment window over looking the street or from a crowd of young people … male and female … touting the flags, faces painted red for the color of Barcelona … and absolutely NO VIOLENCE of any sort. The environment is beautiful … one in which I could live … if it wasn’t so expensive for a single guy like me …retired and all!
Barcelona is a vibrant old style Spanish city with narrow streets that look like alleys where no violence nor robberies take place … day or night! There is a very very low level of street mischief like prostitution or drug (marijuana) sales … No hard stuff anywhere though homelessness and “pan handling” are widespread in Barcelona yet non-existent in Sabadell!!! The traffic is extremely orderly and there is limited honking of horns and NO … I said NO road rage anywhere!! While I don’t particularly “knock” the USA, we are suffering from a lack of spiritual values … family and human values. We applaud death and threaten each other on every front possible. This leaves a society always “on the brink” of a disaster where someone “flips out”, be it a leader … or a citizen. Life is “tight” … life is propelled by success and money, power and greed … control even. The fabric of our society … is suffering in the USA. It has been a great awakening for me to come to Europe … Spain to be exact … and see the family values prevalent that we once held so dear in the USA …
Just some notes …
Peace,
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 