Last year
during my stays in Ann Arbor I turned pretty anti-American. It may have largely
been caused by too much exposure to the various republican presidency
candidates that were showcasing themselves in the media around that time. I
know some Dutch politicians aren’t exactly bright and rational, but the republican plastic faces screaming “save the babies!” just wasn’t a
good image of this country.
This time however
I was going to give the States a fresh start and a second chance. Or rather, I
will try to find positive things about this place instead of going on and on
about all the insanity.
On Saturday
I found a remarkable example of something truly amazing. I was cycling through
Ann Arbor in search of the Farmer’s market when I noticed huge swarms of
volunteers and children in bright green t-shirts planting flowers all through
the city centre. And not just planting flowers but also cleaning the sidewalks
and repainting the lamp posts. It was a pretty hot day already and lots of
waitresses from cafes came out with ice water for the volunteers. It was such a
happy perfect example of community spirit and doing-good, that I started
looking for film crews, because it hardly seemed that this could be true. But
it was. Good on you Ann Arbor volunteers, I see this as a positive example that
perhaps we can all do some little things to take the burden off the city
councils of the world and just to make our cities a bit more pleasant and
colourful. While I’m at it I will probably buy some white paint too and
increase the number of pedestrian crossings in Christchurch …
