Kenya then and now

by philg

One interaction from Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland (fortunately my mom has escaped):

Brenda the nurse: “I’m from Kenya.”

Mom: “I was there in 1988.”

Brenda: “It was a lot nicer then.”

Me: “How come?”

Brenda: “Because of population growth.”

Separately, my mother went through a period of delirium and the nurses would go through their standard list of questions: What’s your name? When were you born? What year is it? Who is the President?

Having lived through the golden years of U.S. economic expansion, my mom can’t see any limits to tax revenue or government capability and thus is a 100 percent loyal Democrat. Even when only 2 percent of her brain was functioning and got her birthyear wrong, for example, she would answer that last question with “Donald Trump and I don’t like him.”

(Except at FBOs (fueling points for small planes), the trips to D.C. were mostly about encounters with immigrants. The Burger King/Mobil that is walking distance from Business Aircraft Center at Danbury (KDXR) was 100-percent staffed with Spanish speakers. Every Uber driver in the Maryland/DC area was an immigrant. The physicians who cared for my mother were immigrants, one from India and one from Colombia (second residency in the U.S., though). Roughly 85 percent of the nurses and techs were immigrants. The only health care job that seems to be dominated by native-born Americans is social worker.)

7 thoughts on “Kenya then and now”

  1. And my father the democrat was so appalled by Watergate that forever after Richard Nixon was President, even though Dad died during Reagan’s second term.

  2. …..100 % loyal democrat. Even when only 2% of her brain was functioning…… Phil, that’s a hanging curve ball, but I won’t take it, hope your mom is feeling better, the last place I want to be when I am on in years is the hospital.

  7. Funny, Brenda the nurse sums up how I feel about California. (To be fair, the food is better now, which is mostly attributable to immigrants)

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