# Americans in Malaysia ???



## Edgenaples (Dec 19, 2012)

Malaysia seems like a nice place to retire. I've been to Thailand a couple times and really like it. I also read a lot about Malaysia, but have always been a bit...ummm...I've always kind of dropped it off my list because it is a muslim country. No offense...I just want a carefree retirement and wonder if that could be an issue for an older American couple. I just wanted to see if other Americans were retired there and if they've encountered any problems.


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## sendomike (Oct 6, 2014)

Hello, Michael here. I'm a local Malaysian and a real estate agent in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is actually a nice place to retire. Though technically a Muslim country, Malaysia has 3 main race, Malay Chinese and Indians. 

I have shown a retired UK couple around recently, and they seems to love it here. They have settled at Bangsar, which has a big expat community. The area with the most expat community is Bangsar and KLCC.

If you like, you can have a visit and I can show you around as well.


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Im a Californian in Malaysia almost 16 years and never had a problem with any Muslim. In fact they are my best friends overall and I like them very much. They have never shown me anything but kindness and gentleness.

There is an extreme element also here and that may become a problem as time goes on. There are ISIS members here as well. But I can say no Muslim has ever posed any problem for me and I never felt in any way unsafe, contradictory to rumors and assumptions. 

Malaysians are a very friendly lot, ALL races, and Islam is moderate, not like Saudi Arabia. But for you to feel good about this, you must meet Malaysians half-way and without fear. Malaysians are very social and responsive to true friendliness. Dont fear people, dont look down on them, be open to invitations, join everything. Be a honest friend, treat them well, find things to laugh about. Of all the world, if I was having a party I would only invite Malaysians. 

Its an ideal place to retire and a lousy place for a foreigner to work or have a business. The food, natural beauty, climate, prices, all pluses; politics, corruption, race tensions, things like that are the minuses. For you, as an older couple, not working, its very peaceful and enjoyable for long term. Forget about Islam, its no problem at all, inflation is your major worry and headache and you need to plan for that. Everything else can be worked out with patience and an open mind.


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## prof.ishack (Jul 4, 2014)

I'm an American, married to a Malaysian. I lived in Malaysia back in the mid-late 1990's for a couple of years and moved back last year. I have to agree with everything that CVCO said. There are no issues being a non-Muslim living in Malaysia and love living here. The cost of living is a fraction of the US (and I'm from Indiana, so the difference will be greater than high COL places like California or New York), the food is great, and medical care is very good (and cheap). 

As CVCO said there are some more conservative movement in the Muslim community, but it's being pushed in part for political reasons. I suspect that it will swing back to the middle in time, ther are already many movements within the country to push things back to a more secular society. 

However KL is getting a bit crowded and expensive, you might want to look at Ipoh, Penang (also starting to get expensive) or other medium size cities. But everywhere is cheap compared to the US in my opinion. I don't know how it compares to Thailand, but as I recall Phuket was pretty expensive in comparison the last time I was here. 

But I wouldn't let the fact it's a Muslim country deter you, it's very open to non-Muslim expats. You can find all the alcohol and pork that you want, and no fear of the problems that other Muslim countries seem to be facing.


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

prof....my post is actually how I feel and how I believe but id say in 20 years much has changed and the pinpoint of it is not the people who never change but the governments attitude towards them. Corruption and crime are rife, inflation is out of control, more laws and rules, less freedom, less tolerance among races, more criticism and ridicule of each other and the government, more jailings and detentions, more deaths in detention, more fear. Mahathir and others blamed the net for all the social ills but id say the net has educated people and forced them to wake up. Now they are waking up and venting pent up anger. Anger at everything and everyone.

For Islam.....hmm...here is the problem with Islam. Malaysia has its own brand and interpretation of Sunni Islam. Read this from just yesterday---and Id say its true. Whatever the root of this is, it must have been very quiet 20 years ago, now its on the move.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/malaysia-islam-negative-impact-singapore-110421349.html#

Also, 20 years ago there wasnt ISIS. They just arrested a group of government worker for being ISIS members or helpers. Things are changing.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/civil-servants-among-8-arrested-021530282.html

YES, on the peaceful side Malaysia is a great place. Or....was? Not sure now. Myself, there is much to love here but im getting the jitters and would like to sell our company and migrate.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

cvco said:


> Not sure now. Myself, there is much to love here but im getting the jitters and would like to sell our company and migrate.


Interesting to follow the two of you as you post on this subject. I'm also an American but married and retired and living here in the Philippines.

Even here in the southern islands things are starting to get more out of hand as time passes.
It is worrisome for us here as this kind of problem with Islam is spreading around the world faster that greased lightening. For the time being, China is the biggest worry for us here but can't count out Islam and or ISIS eventually. Living in a foreign country has real advantages but personal safety sure is not one of them.



Regards

Jet Lag


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Hi Jet Lag,

Actually, Phils is one place I have been considering but two things bother me, the lack of being able to mail packages cheaply, and the isolation which requires airplane rides to everywhere. If I was there as a tourist wouldnt visa runs become very expensive?

Back to Islam. I talk to old people who were adults at Independence in 1957 and they said at that time there wasnt any race problem, everyone got along. As the Islamic government grew, so did their brand of it and tensions have risen ever since. But its not just the government but the spread of the dark side of Islam and now its going out of control.

Since you are in Phils.................a few years ago I saw a strange looking man in a mall in Kuala Lumpur. Strange green clothes, like military clothes of 500 years ago or something. I walked up and said hello. Turns out he was Abu Sayyaf from Mindanao, in town for AID TALKS with the Malaysians. Really, I asked? He said the government was supporting Abu Sayyaf for the past 20 years. That chat really scared me, and yet this government claims publicly to want to stamp them out.

I dont want to digress from the thread, we can continue in the Phils section. But, yes, its getting to be that for westerners anyway, SE Asia holds less and less allure nowadays and largely dark-side Islam is a factor in it.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

*Thread from Malaysia*

*Gents, I've copied this thread from the Malaysia page and it's open for comment if ya would care to and I'll jump in again in the morning..*


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

I'll continue in here and first to say that if anyone is confused by the post, I was straddling Malaysia and Philippines in the same post. Jet Lag hijacked the thread  

Jet Lag, since you mentioned personal safety, I was thinking that it applies worldwide now. Where is safe? Between the wars, Islam, now China and US possibly haggling over the islands near you, Syrian refugees.....where is safe? Sixteen years ago when I came to Malaysia I felt nothing, no tension. Then 911 happened and its been downhill ever since. I never felt so unsafe and frankly US is the most unsafe place in my opinion--police state, black-white tensions, liberal-conservative tensions. I just wanted to do my work in peeeeeeeace..............


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Ooops.....wrong place....please delete my last post...sorry


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

cvco said:


> I'll continue in here and first to say that if anyone is confused by the post, I was straddling Malaysia and Philippines in the same post. Jet Lag hijacked the thread
> 
> Jet Lag, since you mentioned personal safety, I was thinking that it applies worldwide now. Where is safe? Between the wars, Islam, now China and US possibly haggling over the islands near you, Syrian refugees.....where is safe? Sixteen years ago when I came to Malaysia I felt nothing, no tension. Then 911 happened and its been downhill ever since. I never felt so unsafe and frankly US is the most unsafe place in my opinion--police state, black-white tensions, liberal-conservative tensions. I just wanted to do my work in peeeeeeeace..............


That's okay CVCO, this is actually a good place for your post. Safety truly is an issue worldwide now. I feel as you do too. Pre 9/11 not a lot of thought of personal safety was given anywhere except a declared war zone.

Today the world has been turned upside down and most everyone is looking over their shoulder.
Safety I think is not much of an issue in rural America or even smaller towns. But places like Los Angeles or other major cities would be quite the opposite. I have not been back to my native America in just about 13 years now and often wonder what if any effect world safety issues have been effected. Knowing Californians as I do, I'd venture to guess little or no thought is given to such things.

As far as China is concerned, I don't feel at risk from their government ordering an attack here. That said though, there is concern that one of their military commanders could make a wrong choice or bad decision (as they sometimes do) and cause a bad event that could expand quickly.

Me hijack a thread? Never  ..


Jet


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Jet Lag,

I'll say first im from CA but not a Commie Liberal. But to your remark i can add that the problem is that the Commie Liberals believe their Dear Leader will not just save them but prevent any such problems even though the daily news is far the opposite. Youve got competing power factions in US now that have nothing to do with Dem or Rep. Its the underlying voices---Mexicans, Muslims, Blacks, Whites, Police, Socialists. Is the US safer today under Obama? Nope. But it wasnt Obamas fault, he didnt create anything, he just opened the doors of the voices that were always lurking in shadows anyway. It was Bush and 9-11 that fostered the change to a very hostile environment. After 9-11, the world forgave the US for the invasion of Afghanistan, people figured they had it coming. But then with Iraq, the lid blew off and suddenly, more than before, everyone is pointing their barrels at the US in more ways than one. Im confused and feel totally unsafe. I go back for visits and keep looking over my shoulder. I never did that before.

About China, youre describing the movie, Dr. Strangelove, and yes today, now, the movie is being replayed between Russia and the US. Follow Putin and Obama, its cat and mouse and someone on either side can become the huckleberry you described and we'll all fry. So easy. Add to all the above that the world wants to collapse the US hold on the world via USD petrodollars and you have a boiling witches brew. Add to that again that the UN wants one world law and currency, and nevermind China and Russia may be planning for the RMB to replace the USD and back it with metal, and i tell you plainly maybe only the MOON is safe now. And maybe not!

People reading think I digressed. But Asia and US depend on each other so if you want personal safety in Asia you better hope things stay calm in US. I dont think they will and hence I worry that im far from home but in for economic shockwaves anyway which can lead to extreme civil unrest on both sides. Id love to be dead wrong. That would be wonderful


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Jet Lag said:


> As far as China is concerned, I don't feel at risk from their government ordering an attack here. That said though, there is concern that one of their military commanders could make a wrong choice or bad decision (as they sometimes do) and cause a bad event that could expand quickly.
> 
> Me hijack a thread? Never  ..
> 
> ...


I don't think for one minute that China has cornered the market on stupid.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

cvco said:


> Jet Lag,
> 
> I'll say first im from CA but not a Commie Liberal. But to your remark i can add that the problem is that the Commie Liberals believe their Dear Leader will not just save them but prevent any such problems even though the daily news is far the opposite. Youve got competing power factions in US now that have nothing to do with Dem or Rep. Its the underlying voices---Mexicans, Muslims, Blacks, Whites, Police, Socialists. Is the US safer today under Obama? Nope. But it wasnt Obamas fault, he didnt create anything, he just opened the doors of the voices that were always lurking in shadows anyway. It was Bush and 9-11 that fostered the change to a very hostile environment. After 9-11, the world forgave the US for the invasion of Afghanistan, people figured they had it coming. But then with Iraq, the lid blew off and suddenly, more than before, everyone is pointing their barrels at the US in more ways than one. Im confused and feel totally unsafe. I go back for visits and keep looking over my shoulder. I never did that before.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the good post with the observations you made. I'm originally from Calif also. N. Hollywood, Van Nuys to be exact. I was last there in 2003 and everyone there from those on the streets to restaurants, even to those that I know while visiting there seemed to be completely disconnected from world or even local events that did not have an immediate effect on their daily lives. I suppose it might be the same in Idaho where I visited but most noticeable in LA where there are vastly more people to observe.

Hard to say what will end up happening over the next few years but it will be interesting to see the goings on.
I do feel safer here by far than if I were back in the Valley and cruising Van Nuys Blvd or some such thing.
Guess bout all we can do is hope for the best and hope that our kids and grand kids will still have a country or even a world left to live in.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

Gary D said:


> I don't think for one minute that China has cornered the market on stupid.


You got that right for sure. The commanding officer of a US Navy ship or aircraft could make a huge mistake too. That's to say nothing of the Philippine Navy out to test their newest, used ships and make a name for themselves..


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Jet Lag said:


> Thanks for the good post with the observations you made. I'm originally from Calif also. N. Hollywood, Van Nuys to be exact. I was last there in 2003 and everyone there from those on the streets to restaurants, even to those that I know while visiting there seemed to be completely disconnected from world or even local events that did not have an immediate effect on their daily lives. I suppose it might be the same in Idaho where I visited but most noticeable in LA where there are vastly more people to observe.
> 
> Hard to say what will end up happening over the next few years but it will be interesting to see the goings on.
> I do feel safer here by far than if I were back in the Valley and cruising Van Nuys Blvd or some such thing.
> Guess bout all we can do is hope for the best and hope that our kids and grand kids will still have a country or even a world left to live in.


An observation I made when visiting California in 2002 and again in about 2004-5 was that I felt very cut off from the world. The media didn't seem to extend much beyond what was going on on the west coast, middle america did get a mention but that was because something fairly major had happened. During 2002 the soccer world cup was being held and the US were taking part but it took a good couple of day for any results etc to get into the papers. Even CNN was just local news.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

Gary D said:


> An observation I made when visiting California in 2002 and again in about 2004-5 was that I felt very cut off from the world. The media didn't seem to extend much beyond what was going on on the west coast, middle America did get a mention but that was because something fairly major had happened. During 2002 the soccer world cup was being held and the US were taking part but it took a good couple of day for any results etc to get into the papers. Even CNN was just local news.


In the States, CNN and other large news outlets are more for local stuff unless something major happens. Then it's non-stop coverage. 
Soccer although the US team may play somewhere is just not a popular sport and would get little if any coverage except maybe ESPN and the like.
California is a good place to live to make a good amount of money. Some love it there and would never consider moving.
I enjoyed growing up and going to school etc. But eventually decided to live in other states where the population seemed more human as well as a lower cost of living..


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Jet Lag said:


> In the States, CNN and other large news outlets are more for local stuff unless something major happens. Then it's non-stop coverage.
> Soccer although the US team may play somewhere is just not a popular sport and would get little if any coverage except maybe ESPN and the like.
> California is a good place to live to make a good amount of money. Some love it there and would never consider moving.
> I enjoyed growing up and going to school etc. But eventually decided to live in other states where the population seemed more human as well as a lower cost of living..


I guess what I'm used to is that UK news has a large international news content and local news is religated to about 5min every half hour. Also I guess we get the international version of CNN. I think this is something that I could miss in the Philippines is the very low news content of their new programmes.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

Gary D said:


> I guess what I'm used to is that UK news has a large international news content and local news is religated to about 5min every half hour. Also I guess we get the international version of CNN. I think this is something that I could miss in the Philippines is the very low news content of their new programmes.


Yea Agree. Our local cable TV provider recently added the new CNN Philippines and although it's all English, I don't watch it much. Hard to watch TV in our home countries online but I do follow CNN, CNBC, and Fox news online a bit.

Only thing I really miss living in the States is the dear hunting and trout fishing in the high mountains of Southern Utah. Other than than I'm happy right here in the islands.


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Jet Lag,

Im from Riverside County. And yes, i agree that people are.....wait....should I say disconnected? Hmm. Consider my sister. She has a good job, they have 4 kids in college to support. She says, "Look, if I read the news you do, im going to get angry, likely at co-workers, lose my job and then we got nothing. I dont want to be disconnected but I have to choose." Thats how it is with people, they feel the great need to be disconnected because to be CONNECTED likely means revolt. Nobody wants bloodshed. I try to talk about the greater good, the long term but like she says, we have to think how to survive, stay alive, in SPITE of the problems. So people turn off. They want to be informed but they fear the actions that might be needed that are going to be destructive to all. So they cover their faces with their hands and dont look.

I dont look at presidents and think they caused my ills. They didnt. But Bush and Obama paved the way for things to change so much that nobody is certain of anything anymore, like the American Dream Asians still believe in. The factories are gone, the middle class is gone, now people are either rich or poor. I read this week that 51% of the people are living on $30,000 or less. Thats nearly poverty, or is, for a family of four. With such decline why shouldnt we feel unsafe?


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Southern Utah? Ive been going there since a little kid, my father started a ski resort and we were always up there. Not long ago I was up with my brother and there was a stream running right near the road we were on. We looked at each other, stopped, got our lines in the water and had trout in about 30 minutes. What a life!

CNN, all that, i personally think its all government run stations. Try redflagnews.com, al-jazeera, gatewaypundit.com, zerohedge.com, many alternatives.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

cvco said:


> Southern Utah? Ive been going there since a little kid, my father started a ski resort and we were always up there. Not long ago I was up with my brother and there was a stream running right near the road we were on. We looked at each other, stopped, got our lines in the water and had trout in about 30 minutes. What a life!
> 
> CNN, all that, i personally think its all government run stations. Try redflagnews.com, al-jazeera, gatewaypundit.com, zerohedge.com, many alternatives.


Yea, great place up on Cedar Mountain about 30 miles East of Cedar City on Hwy 14.
When I was a kid we use to ride the ski lift during summer months as they were starting to build the first Brianhead Ski resort back then. 
That stream you saw must be Duck Creek. Great for fishing as is Navajo Lake about 5 miles before getting to Duck Creek Village. Also as a kid, we use to go stay at Navajo Lake Lodge every summer on vacation. Back then it was owned by Gunnar and Stella Ojampera.
Truly a great place and area that I miss, especially after living in Cedar for a number of years.
Sure is a small world! Hahaha..


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Jet Lag,

Yes thats our resort, Brian Head. We started in 1962. My father loved to fish more than anything and in the summers we'd drive all over the country searching out prized catches. At the time of Brian Head, they also bought a 400ac place called Lowder Ranch (near Cedar Breaks) and every summer my parents would dump us kids there for a month or so and we'd camp. There were three log cabins in poor condition, a lake and creeks, hills, a beaver dam, cattle, meadows. The spring water bubbling right out of the ground tasted like sugar, thats how unpolluted it was then. While my brother collected ancient arrowheads I taught myself axe throwing and was lethal.

Youd appreciate how we bought that land. It was the salesman and I have to say i'll never forget it. My father didnt want the land, he was too focused on Brian Head readiness. The salesman, irrepressible, asked us all to meet him on the land one morning at 6am. We got there and found he had set up a picnic table and BBQ. You havent lived until you can sizzle steaks early in the morning with the sun streaming through the thick stands of cedar trees, the brisk air, the sound of a river and the smells of the forest mixing with the meat. There is nothing like it anywhere. The look of the natural land, the cedars, the agate, the scene of the wilderness and Cedar Breaks region, it was pretty far away from what my family had known, being born in Chicago, and my father was overwhelmed and signed the papers right there. Even today he will still say, "beware steak breakfasts!!"

Readers will think I ran off the cliff of digression. Not so. That time, we all packed rifles in the cars, traveled the country in not just total safety but the feeling of safety. We didnt know where Iraq was, never heard of any of the craziness we have today. We lost our country. Ok, we didnt lose our country, just 90% of it. And why? Why was it necessary to lose it? Was it necessary that we later came to fear our neighbors so much we dare not open their back door ourselves to borrow milk and eggs? We stood for something better and we knew it. We lost it.

I have many good memories of that time in US and southern Utah especially. When Brian Head was starting we basically lived at the Imperial 400 motel in CC, and on our way up and down the mountain we'd stop at the cheese factory at Parowan and buy bags of cheese curd. Wow delicious. If I ever get some money in my hands id like to build a little house in Springdale, my favorite place around there.


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

I'll PS my last post to say I want that time back in US--and everywhere. Clean water, trusted neighbors, jobs and industry, feeling of safety, progress and that we have a future. That time, in the 1950s and 60s, it was hard to find pessimism in US. Nobody cared to leave the greatest country in the world. Looking back im beyond amazed that I did leave or that I wanted to. I scratch my head, I dont get it. Im beyond amazed and beyond sad too. People like me are not what the US is anymore but that doesnt mean the grass is greener anywhere else either. It isnt, thats what these posts are about. In the end, its not where you live but how you live. But lines in the US got crossed too many times by too many people and doesnt anyone think its odd that I dont feel at home in my own country? That I had to search for somewhere I didnt have to actually FEAR? Man, what happened..............and now its all spread and no place can be called safe. World is on fire.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

cvco said:


> I'll PS my last post to say I want that time back in US--and everywhere. Clean water, trusted neighbors, jobs and industry, feeling of safety, progress and that we have a future. That time, in the 1950s and 60s, it was hard to find pessimism in US. Nobody cared to leave the greatest country in the world. Looking back im beyond amazed that I did leave or that I wanted to. I scratch my head, I dont get it. Im beyond amazed and beyond sad too. People like me are not what the US is anymore but that doesnt mean the grass is greener anywhere else either. It isnt, thats what these posts are about. In the end, its not where you live but how you live. But lines in the US got crossed too many times by too many people and doesnt anyone think its odd that I dont feel at home in my own country? That I had to search for somewhere I didnt have to actually FEAR? Man, what happened..............and now its all spread and no place can be called safe. World is on fire.


Very Very well said, I grew up in the 40s & 50s in the Dakotas and feel the same.

Fred


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## cvco (Mar 20, 2015)

Fred,

I can read my post and just about start crying. Kids today, they were not there, they have no sense of what a great life really means. They find it so easy to tear apart everything that painfully got built up, all those things you and I hold dear and took for granted--and not that long ago either.

In a way, i really thought coming to Asia meant being around better people, those not contaminated by the awful crap going on in US but I was wrong, I just replaced one set of crap with another. The world situation being what it is may put us at a crossroads, to stay out or go back and fight a civil war.

I think it was Larry Ellison of Oracle who famously said, "your life isnt private anymore, get over it!" Now its, your life isnt safe anymore, get over that, too?

And whats "a great life?" It means that the foundations like trust and safety are secure so that you can focus on your life plans; it means you dont have to stay up at night worrying what the government is plotting; it means you can leave your house open and return and find everything still in its place so that you are free to reflect on the nice day out you just had; it means newcomers to your neighborhood would truly appreciate the house warming gifts everyone else made for them so that they can dig right in to a good neighbor life with you. Things like that. Is that the life we have now or can even look forward to?

To me it all seems basic but now what, we have to physically fight to achieve it? Huh?


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