Bess, John, and Charley

Exactly three interesting things happened today. First, I hitched a ride with a cool girl named Bess. She said she was from Pennsylvania and had a weird fascination with prostitution or something? I don’t really know. However, I could tell that she’s see some pretty insane stuff, and she was travelling across the country, too. Second, I pet the BEST dog ever and third, I met his human. The human wasn’t quite as great as the dog, but he was a really good guy nonetheless albeit a tinge sad. We were in Salinas wandering around the small shops and smelling the salty air when we ran into the duo. Charley, the pup, bounded over and greeted me while his human, John, followed soon after. The two were on a cross country pursuit of America. John had grown up here but had relocated to New York, and despite living on both coasts he felt as though he didn’t really know America. I felt the same way, and hearing his interpretation of it all absolutely fascinated me. He had already crossed the Midwest and Pacific Northwest and was about to start heading down south through Texas. He said something really interesting about the country so far; he thinks we as Americans are getting lazy. Like yeah, we have all these cool gadgets, but beyond that he’s afraid that we’re pawning too much of our harsh work on immigrants rather than even attempting to do it ourselves. He thinks that we’re being condescending and acting like we’re too good to pick the food we eat. He respects those who come to the country and work, but I feel like he’s losing respect for the rest of us.

John was showing us around Salinas while we were talking, and he looked more and more upset as time passed. I barely knew the guy, so I didn’t want to ask, but he offered anyway. He felt like this wasn’t the town he had grown up in, and too much had changed for him to really call it home anymore. It broke my heart. We always pride ourselves on innovation and development because it proves that we are progressive and we are powerful. Do these new construction projects ruin the charisma of the small town? How could you even begin to answer something like that? All I know is that my heart hurt for John, but at least he had Charley to pick him back up. It’s hard to be too sad when you have a friend like that.