Have I become so cynical that the mere mention of truth, justice and the american way leave me spitting?
I remember a time visiting relatives in Massachusetts when I was around 7 or 8. It was my first time in the good ole USA and I was very excited. It seemed familiar to my home yet somehow different as well. The streets and houses looked like what I had seen on tv shows like The Greatest American Hero or read about in Hardy Boys books. Good, wholesome, small town homes. Clean streets with laughing children riding big wheels.
My uncle's home was a traditional New England cottage, with a big back yard and 2 cars in the garage.
But my favourite part of the visit was watching tv. So many channels, with so many choices. I slept on the couch in the living room for the vist and remember the smell of the leather and staying up late to watch Superman, Flash Gordon, Batman and other old-time serials and thinking, yes, I could get to like this. Very much.
I wish I had the talent to accurately express my very warm and happy feelings of this and later times.
I visited many times over the intervening years; Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Long Island, North Carolina, Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Key West, San Francisco, Scottsdale and many other fabulous places.
But I no longer wish to visit there. It seems to have grown colder, with less laughter. More suspicious and less tolerant. When I cross the border I no longer feel welcome, only a nuisance.
I think you can probably still watch the original George Reeves Superman show on some obscure channel but you have to really hunt for it.
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