25/04/11 - why is it like this

i started this post with no clear idea of what i wanted to write. just a feeling of having something to say.

i just got home from morocco the day before yesterday, and i just finished my application for the next semester of school today. class starts monday, life as usual.

i feel like i've had a lot of thoughts just sort of swirling in my head for a bit now, without being able to sort them or verbalise them.

this is part of why i write on here, just to sort out all the stuff my mind is doing all the time.

i saw and heard a lot of things in morocco that made me think a lot. i was only there for a few days, but they were very intense.

morocco is probably the first actual monarchy i've been to.

especially if you've any american heritage, relatives or friends, you constantly hear about how horrible monarcies are.

i still think that democracy is the better system, of course, but it's hard to deny that the country is doing ok; especially in comparison to a lot of supposedly democratic countries i've been to.

i visited the town of amizmiz, and a nearby village; both places that were hit hard by the 2023 earthquake.

there were still, a year and a half later, piles of rubble everywhere, and nearly half the people in some places were still living in tents.

hearing from people there about how devastating it was, how many of them had lost friends and family; they said the death toll was nearly 80% in some villages. in such small communities, it was impossible not to have lost someone.

i met a polio survivor, one of the last in the area to have contracted it before it was eradicated. he walks with crutches, way up in the mountains, and some foreigners raised money to get him a 4-wheeler so he could get up and down the mountain.

in contrast to all that were the cities of casablanca and marrakech.

casablanca, with its skyscrapers and modern tram system; an industrial metropolitan centre.

marrakech, with its massive villas and expansive hotels; a tourist trap shaped like a city.

i heard from the people about the money that the king had promised them to help rebuild. nearly all of it was embezzled by in-betweens, so that by the time it arrived it was next to nothing.

sometimes i think i should just leave everything i'm doing and go work in disaster relief or something. maybe that would be more worth my while.

i still feel that i have half a dozen bees in my bonnet, but they'll come out when they're ready.

contact me at: tsukaj@tilde.club