Lost Guitars Were Likely

The Marines never leave a man behind.  Isn’t that what they say?  I suspect the Stones and the Allman Brothers however, had inadvertently or otherwise, often left guitars behind.  And maybe it was a prized guitar or just an extra rhythm guitar of no certain distinction, but lost guitars were likely legion. 

We lost one.  I ordered the withdrawal of ground forces.  I was holding down the front line with the ticket check-in dude.  “Sir, where are you family.”  “Oh their in a cab.  Be here any second.”  They had all the luggage save the newly purchased, Yamaha acoustic guitar.  “Leave it.” I ordered.  And we were, rather miraculously, able to all check in and leave Jakarta on-time without having to change any flights or spend any extra nights in airport hotels.  But we lost a good guitar. 

I tried today to find our fallen instrument.  Lion Air is a regional budget airline.  Other than landing the plane two hours later than scheduled there was nothing to complain about the Lion Air service.  Dialling up I pressed the button for English service, got someone who couldn’t speak much English who passed me to someone who could, and this person confirmed that this line was not the line for lost luggage, so she transferred me to another queue where I connected with someone who couldn’t speak English who gave me the number of where he thought I should call.   I called again.  I got into a queue for lost luggage.  It was the English queue.  In this queue, the muzak was interrupted every twelve seconds or so with an apology message that insisted I press pound if I wanted to continue.  I continued in this fashion for ten minutes like  baboon in a laboratory, pressing pound four times per minute until I grew tired and missed a pound and was promptly disconnected. 

I read more than I intended to today of John Pomfret’s book “The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom.”  We’re exploring the thread of what makes the U.S. China relationship singular and why it is both sides are so frequently mistaken.  It's only 1856 and I am sensitive to Mr. Pomfret's choices as he highlights American gestures of friendship and fairness and downplays American selfishness and opportunism in, for example, the Arrow War, the Second of the Opium Wars.  The U.S. took place in the bombardment imbuing an understandable Chinese distrust of the Americans’ that goes unexplored.  I’m on my guard against something that lets America off too easily, as I’m suspicious this book will try to do.  Perhaps I’ll be wrong.  Regardless its nourishing to spend time once again, exploring this old-friend narrative.  

Thursday, 01/11/17