－Omid-X to Agamem-X (his father)－
My most respectful and venerable lifegiver, after a few months’ rest and reflection about my purpose, I decided to pursue my mission on earth. It is not with pleasure that I do so, but out of duty and responsibility to the universe! It sounds odd maybe, but I can assure you that there is so much to be learned from the earthlings that I cannot bring myself to abandon the task of reporting on these creatures’ behaviors and attitudes. After all, earth helps me identify all the wrong things that civilizations should not do, and behaviors they should shed.
As you may have noticed, dear lifegiver, I have moved. I am no longer in Boston, but in Miami Beach in Florida, in the same United of States. And I must admit nothing seems more far apart than Boston and Miami Beach, and yet they are both a substantial part of this country called The United States of America.
The trip was first suggested by my landlords in Cambridge－the couple who was renting their extra room to me－because they thought some of my depression came from the cold, dark and often snowy winters in the area. So I went along, and I must admit, it has been an uplifting experience.
So following this advice, I got on a flight from Boston to Miami a few weeks ago, in early January. I morphed myself into the body of a conference attendee in Miami Beach, and joined a crowd of jolly professionals talking about drugs, while drinking alcohol! I know, my lifegiver, I promised a year ago that I will refrain from overindulgence in those items, and I assure you I did not indulge too much.
It was a wonderful time, with all the recreation and entertainment that was around. In fact, if you come as a tourist to this city, you would think everybody is happy, cool, rich and beautiful.
I did notice one peculiar situation, however, which truly surprised me. As I think I had written you very early in my trip, America is considered an advanced society with much effort in search of creating diversity and equality between genders. They also try their best to eliminate exploitation of women be it physically, socially or in any other way and shape. That of course does not exclude the exploitation of people, regardless of gender, religion, and age!
So imagine, I am walking down the stairs into the courtyard and the pool area, and I noticed that all the waitresses serving at the club are dressed in skimpy and quite lustful bathing suits! There were not many men serving at that time, but the few who were did not dress very ‘hot’.
I know, lifegiver, you will come at me with things such as freedom of expression, not forcing anyone, and ‘oh don’t be old school’, but I cannot reconcile the fact that in the very country that tries to level the gender treatment, or ensure diversity is not blocked, we condone such a stereotype usage of women, especially when you consider that these are arenas where business people and economic leaders and actors convene.
On the other hand, our own planet was not much better at addressing these issues.
From Miami Beach, Florida - 27 February, 2024 (Earth)