a threat, a goodbye and a new blog

"Please be aware of the increased threat level", the message on the PA repeats every few minutes. "threat level raised to orange." Wow that sounds pretty bad I think to myself, orange is pretty close to red I wonder what it is I'm supposed to be afraid of now? I'm sitting in the Denver Airport terminal waiting for my flight to Pakistan. Doing a little research on the internet I learn a little about the Homeland Security Advisory System, there is a good article on wikipedia here. So is this all just creating unsubstantiated fear? "In an article for CounterPunch, Kurt Nimmo links prolonged states of elevated, high, and severe risk to an increase of anxiety and paranoia in the general American population. He goes on to criticize the Bush Administration and its use of the Advisory System as manipulative and complicit in supporting a culture of fear in the United States." And what happened to the killer bees that were supposed to invade over a decade ago? Or is there something to this, the threat level was raised to orange July 11, 2007, because of "reports that Al Qaeda has rebuilt operating capability, strength to level not seen before the September 11, 2001 attacks; strongest since summer of 2001."

Wait. Could it be true that after years of military action we haven't actually made the world a safer place? Could it be that dropping bombs on people doesn't actually reduce the terrorist threat but creates more terrorists by impoverishing people and giving them a real good reason to hate the US? If you know me you know my position, education and raising the standard of living is the way to eliminate terrorists and make the world safer. In years of travel and living I've seen that all people are the same, we want a basic standard of living, then we want good relations with friends and family and meaningful work or activities. All people are like this, no one actually wants to hurt anyone unless they have been hurt or don't see a way out of a horrible situation.

But I'm losing my train of thought and it's not really easy to sum up briefly here. For those of you who have seen me this summer I have to explain something. Since getting off the plane in California in July I've felt a continual level of unease and awkwardness, I have not felt like myself. I can say that now because I feel who I really am returning right now as I sit and write this. It's the promise of travel and adventure that brings me out of my stupor. I compare it to visiting an animal in a zoo, you see the animal and it's really that animal... but it's not acting like itself and seems out of place. It's simply not in it's natural enviornment and no matter how well fed and cared for it is it's not really living. With that being said you are all invited to come and see me in my natural enviornment! I can help you organize and prepare for the trip and arrange logistics if you do come. I understand the difficulties of getting time off and that for some of you travel is not a natural state so I don't expect it.. but the offer is there.

And it brings me to a point.. who exactly am I writing this blog for? It started as a way to keep my friends and family informed of what I was up to. Unlike mass emailings it's actually only read when people take the time to check up on me. However recently it's been read by a lot of people who don't actually know me, and that's perfectly fine, many of you reading this may soon get to know me and become friends.. But I've been provided a nice opportunity to make a split. As part of my sponsorship by Ozone I've been given a blog to update, and it cracks me up because I'm on the same page as Felix Rodriquez! It's great, that guy's a legend in this sport and I'm a hack! But what the hell I'll go with it. And so it makes sense to write about the paragliding there and my personal life here. But I hope it doesn't make it too difficult for anyone checking in. So, you really have to go over there now because you can't imagine the paragliding trip I have planned for the upcoming fall, so if you've made it this far... click The Ozone Team Blog to see where I'm flying and learn what the other Ozone pilots are up to.