*What did you do on your summer holiday?*

This is a "What did you do on your summer holiday?" type of essay.

We, my wife and I, went to New York City. We spent four days there and then departed from there on a cruise ship which took us to Halifax, then south to Bar Harbor, Boston, Newport and back to NYC.

While in NYC we went to the Museum Of Modern Art. There we saw an exhibition of Da-Da, which was highly recommended. We were lucky because by change we caught it in on its last day. Da-Da was an antibourgeois art movement started in 1916 to protest the hypocrisy of authority and the political order of the day. It mirrors a skepticism. It still seems relevant and appropriate for this day and age, considering the political events in America and all. You could see that the art on display had a rebellious nature about it and showed little deference to a ruling order. When Da-Da first appeared it must have really jolted the art world. Today, though still provocative, it seems no more than a curiosity and mainstream. However, the message of Da-Da is still there, agitating the senses and questioning the status quo.

Before we left on the trip I bought two books to read. One book was entitled "Democracy, A History", by John Dunn and the other "A History of the World in 6 Glasses", by Tom Standage. I always want to make connections between things and events. In this case it was between these two books and my trip. There certainly is a connection between the books because they both deal with social evolution and human enlightenment. The book by Standage, about the world's 6 major liquid refreshments, probably had more to do with my trip because I drank them all. As for Dunn's book on Democracy and its connection, I wasn't that aware of my partaking in Democracy while traveling, although I am sure that the trip would not have been possible without our living in a Democracy. The ship itself wasn’t a paragon of democracy but it certainly was surrounded by it.

We left for NYC on 9/11. As it happens, we also left on a cruise from NYC in 2004 on 9/11. I mention 9/11 because I thing it has a significance on what we experienced on our trip. The world came to a halt after 9/11. People believed that globalization would come to an end and that international travel would be greatly reduced. On the contrary, globalization and international travel have increased since, to levels even higher that before 9/11. This indicates to me the world before 9/11 had something that was worth perpetuating. It also showed the resilience of that world in that it came roaring back, stronger. The terrorists that cause 9/11 believed it was an unjust and corrupt world. But their attack strengthened the resolve to continue and improve on that world. The fact that globalization and international travel continue to grow is a good indication that the attacks of 9/11 really validated the trajectory of the world prior to 9/11 rather that repudiated it, as some believed it would. Our being in NYC traveling and cruising with thousands of others, along with our onboard staff from 42 nations, was also testimony to the international environment that has developed around us, one of interdependence and cooperation.

The cruise had a speaker on board to entertain some of us. He was Harm de Blij. He wrote a book "Why Geography Matters". He talked about his book and the fact that Americans in general knew very little geography and that universities like Harvard stopped teaching it long ago. He said that if the Bush administration had known its geography it might not have started a war with Iraq. Personally, I thought the war had nothing to do with Bush's ignorance of geography but had to do with revenge and a corrupt ideology. I was surprised he got so political about his subject. Nevertheless, I relished it. He also talked about climate change and how the present American government has tried everything to deny and ignore it.

Speaking of climate change, on board the ship I got the opportunity to finally see Al Gore’s movie “ An Inconvenient Truth”. It may have exaggerated some points but I think overall it made a truly valid case. I don’t understand how so many people can still deny that human activity is not affecting the climate of the world. After all, the human activity of the last century has increased dramatically, not only in changing the landscape of the world but also in adding tons of pollutants into the air. The evidence is there. The movie didn’t mention 9/11. I think it should have been because of what occurred on 9/11. Airplanes were grounded for four days and in those four days the skies were noticeably cleaner. That happening really showed that human activity has had a huge impact on the quality of our air. From that event a rational mind can understand that even the human activity of air travel can contribute to some form of climate change.

After leaving the ship we took a cab to the airport. Our cab driver was a Pakistani. This reminded me of something I had read, that Muslim immigration to America was on the increase, after a large drop following 9/11. I believe this development is a validation of what followed 9/11. What followed 9/11 was a mindset that continued to accept and not reject a civilization that truly recognized and offered life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For a few years after 9/11 Muslims did not come to America because they were restricted and felt unwanted. However, after things settled down Muslims started again to immigrate to America in larger numbers from all over the Islamic world. Say what you will about America, but the reason they started again coming to America is because America’s culture recognizes individual rights, which their cultures did not. In America Muslims find that they are free to worship as they wish and that they have the economic opportunities that were denied them back home.