Cuba - The Forbidden Fruit

I caught a piece in the New York Times this morning that I felt would be worth sharing and hearing some opinions on. It was about the island nation of Cuba - so close, yet so far away.

As a grade schooler, post WWII kid, I was intrigued and fascinated by the beauty of the place as I saw it in Life magazine and National Geographic. It had beautiful mountain waterfalls, and miles and miles of Caribbean beaches and coral reefs. I was too young to appreciate it at the time, but there also is quite the rich culture and historical significance as well.

Then came the revolution in Cuba, and the cold war, and Cuba falling to the "Red Menace", and the Cuban Missle Crisis. Then came the distinct possibility of the Soviet Union raining the same hell on us down south that we rained on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just a decade and a half previous.

It's amazing, when watching bomb shelters being hastily built, and having school assemblies for the purpose of advising the kids on what to expect in the event of a nuclear attack and how to survive, how quickly a kid can forget about coral reefs, mountains, waterfalls and such.

Well, I am no longer a kid. Nor am I the least bit impressed by our government's continued resolve to attempt to rub the Cuban's nose in it for falling to the Communists. In case they haven't noticed, their laws have no teeth. You can go to Cancun or Montreal, and get in and out - no questions asked. Our embargo is having no effect on them, with the rest of the world free to and taking full advantage of the chance to travel there and to do trade with them.

For Pete's sake, Nixon made up with Communist China, and after all these years of kissing their butts and bestowing our technology on them, we are staring at quite a trade deficit. How much harm could it do to forgive and forget and get back to business with our Caribbean neighbors?

Just think, the price of Loon's cigars would surely go down. There would be a world of travel opportunities for us all, not to mention all that music, Rum, and all those reefs to dive on the south side of the island! I can't stand locked doors, and sooner or later, if they don't open it, I will take my wife and kids and my dear friends Wayne and Beckie and go in through the back door so we can get a taste of that forbidden fruit and blow some bubbles on those reefs! For a look at the NY Times story, go here Or just go to Google and have a look.