Dear People of the World (formerly Dear Americans)

I rented a TV drama series DVD "Flipper" this week. What I rented is not original 1960's series, it was 1995 version of it.

In 1960's version, one park warden and his two sons, Sandy and Keith and a dolphin, Flipper were the main characters. In 1995 version, the main character was grown-up Keith, who became a marine biologist and managed a university's research facility. Keith was acted by Brian Wimmer. Jessica Alba was among the cast.

The stories were messy and unrealistic. That is basically kids' show, but the good things for all viewers were the beautiful scenaries and cute dolphins. 

I guess Brian Wimmer may be one of major attractions of the drama. In every episode, his half naked body appeared, and in the very first episode, he totally became naked and swam in the dolphins' pool. Targeted viewers may include adult women and gay men.

 I've been to Florida a long time ago when I was a college student in U.S. I went there on spring vacation. My brother came over from Japan. We stayed in Miami, and visited Key West. I ate crabs in Miami. I visited Hemingway's house and scuba-dove in the Key West ocean. Unfortunately I could not meet any dolphin. The below photo was taken at Southernmost point symbol with my brother in the Key West.

Florida was fun place to visit. I love tropical oceans and beach. When I become an elderly person, I will live in the tropical place like Florida, or Hawaii.

That is what I felt.

I read the book and saw the movie which Robert Redford was in. I was never impressed by the story. Actually boring.

It is interesting to note the original novel was published in 1920's. It was Golden Age before Great Depression era.

Maybe the author wanted to criticize America's materialism.

Daisy Buchanan, whom Gatsby longed for years might symbolize that materialism.

But that materialism was after all, illusion. "American Dream" which you call.

Now in the U.S. more than 30 million people are in hunger and 45 million don't have medical insurance.  

Poor young people are being recruited by the military and sent to fight in Iraq. They do not have other jobs. After they come back home from the battlefield, they become homeless.

America is not rich country any more.

Following "Dear Canadians" Series, this post is for other English speaking people than Americans. This time is for Britons. Actually the home country for English language. But the fact of the matter is English used worldwide is American. I've heard from one British guy, American English is Shakespear's era's. British English is in fact more advanced.

Anyway, the topic of the post is my favorite British book, "A Little Princess." It was written by Francis Hodgson Burnett. The story took place in 19th century London. A rich man's daughter named Sara Crewe entered Girls' Dormitory school. She had received special treatment by the school. But when the news that her father died and lost all of his fortune came, her life drastically changed.

The interesting point is Sara was a very unrealistic character, how could a girl raised in such a wealthy environment be so nice to anybody? That should not happen in real life. The point is people around her were very realistic. Miss Minchin, a principal of the school who treated her like a slave after the death of her father was very realistic character that you can find anywhere in the world such as your boss in your company.

People are greedy. That is the very lesson I learned from this book when I first read in my childhood. In other words, you can't be arrogant even when you are very rich and powerful. Your life can be easily changed by the current.

The book also gave me a negative image of British people like cold-blooded, and feudal minded. Maybe that is not true any more. The story is 19th century.

The story is very popular in Japan among children since it was made into cartoon programs. Visit and see the show if you are interested.

6 years ago, September 11, 2001, I was watching evening news on TV. Breaking news came up, I saw the scene that one of World Trade Center towers was burning. First, I thought it was a terrible accident. I thought the building would survive. Actually, I hoped so, because I've been there. The other tower was hit, and I realized it was never an accident.

After an hour, both buildings collapesed and then another news came, Pentagon was hit.

I could not believe what happened. After this incident, that week's news reports were all about the terror incident.

After that, the U.S.A attacked Afghan, and then Iraq. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians were killed and Binladen was never captured. Hussein was hanged to death but he had no link with Al Quaida. No weapons of mass-destruction was found.  

Some say "911 happened because it should have happened."

One recent Dutch movie "Black Book" that depicted Nazis occupied Holland had an interesting scene. One German officer made a speech and said "Let's strike down terror resistance and get back free Europe." This scene overlaps the speeches made by the U.S. officials.

Who are the real terrorists?

What caused terrorism? What kind of situation are we in now?

Since 911, I began to think about what to do to change things better. That is why I became so interested in history. 

I think 911 made documentary films like Micheal Moore's become so popular. There are a lot of problems on earth. Reality is much more thrilling and cruel than fictions. We all have to think about that and seek the solutions for those problems.