Ours Is A Very Special Relationship

The Olympics is back again! And now over! That was fast. This time in the UK. Much to Mitt Romney's embarrassment, these Olympics seem to have run rather well. Not that I would want to be there. London is expensive even in the off-season. God knows how expensive it is there now. I bet the traffic is also rather a nightmare. It is sort of better to watch it tape-delayed (thanks, NBC) than dealing with driving in the UK. Think of it like driving in the US but reduce the size of the car and the road by 50%. Kind of scary.

How do I know all this? I am married to a Brit. It might have been nice to be there in the UK, with his family, and get to watch all the action live in Northampton on the BBC. It would be better than learning the result from the news or Twitter and then having to wait 8 hours to see it in “prime time.”

Trying to watch it online? Forget about it. My poor father was trying to watch sailing and he should be all set up to do. But when I checked up on him a few Sundays ago, he was patiently waiting as the circle was spinning to buffer the coverage. I think he saw more of that circle spinning than actual sailing, so thanks a lot NBC!

OK, enough of my complaining about the coverage. Wait... thanks a bundle for bumping The Who to show a crappy sitcom, real classy way to end things, grrr NBC...deep breath....now I am ready. I actually wanted to discuss the US and UK's “special relationship.” I see it like I see my marriage. We are two very different countries and people. But we speak the same language (sort-of) and we work and play well together.

It really is amazing that the US and UK have developed this relationship given the whole American Revolution. We could have a terrible long cold war but no, they let us go and grow (sometimes to our detriment) and now we have our “special relationship.”

So many countries that have had long standing issues that may help if the “Mother” or “Father” country would really just let go. Russia and all of it's former members of the USSR come to mind. The middle east is a quagmire. I am not sure if that would help, but is all the bloodshed in Syria necessary, if the current regime lets go, and retires to Russia (we know you will) then maybe more killing can be averted.

Could it be because Britain let go of our colonies after the war of 1812? If you do not remember your history lesson about the War of 1812, you are forgiven. This could be considered the last bit of the revolutionary war. With the US invading Canada and burning it's capitol, Britain then reciprocating by burning down many government buildings, including the White House, and a lot of Washington D.C. It really ended as a tie and the only real losers were the Native Americans.

Then the UK eventually had to let go of a lot of other colonies. Many have not done as well as the USA, one example is Zimbabwe. I would like to think that maybe if their dictator, Robert Mugabe would let it go, their country could possibly get away from the horrible economic situation it is in.

The UK sets an example for others as well, including us in the US who will not let go of the civil war. Every time I see a confederate flag I only think of a dead temporary country. But many won't let it go or also won't let go of their supremacist views.

There was (yet another) shooting recently. This time in a Sikh Temple. The person who then killed himself was a white supremacist. His views and his hate killed others. He then shot himself, maybe he suddenly had a moment of clarity about what he had really done.

The United States and Great Britain have a great relationship now. Britain is doing just fine, thank you very much. If you could think of the USA as it's child, then it did quite well in growing up. We still have our problems, but maybe the example of letting go, and moving on would be the best for all.