Going Back to Go Forward

My last post was ages ago. Not for lack of surf. A swell from 310 at 11.4 feet, 13 seconds showed up after several days of dismal surf. Of course the swell landed on Saturday the 15th. It was packed all day and the tide was phat, but after the usual soccer match I charged second bowl. It was going off - slight off shore, perfect tide, and waves setting up all the way through Sharks. Crowd was mellow until the photog-pro crew showed up. Then it was all business. I retreated to Sharks and finished out the evening. The next day the swell got smaller - more from a change in direction; the buoys showed 10.8 feet from 315 at 12 seconds. I made an attempt to surf, but the crowd size and lack of consistency made the couch a better option. Monday showed with sunshine and a significant population decrease. Surfed with the crew and had a great time on waist to head high waves. The surf continued to fall during the week, but there were a few fun windows. Again - another swell showed on the weekend - Sunday, that is. Swell on at 13.8 feet at 14 seconds from 305 mixed with a south that had trouble showing off at 2.4 feet from 195 at 17 seconds. Tide and wind made it difficult. I waited until Monday and caught good waves at second bowl. The swell had dropped to 8.2 feet from 300 at 14 seconds, but the south stayed at 2.3 feet from 190 at 14 seconds. Surf was small today, but the foggy cold conditions of the previous days gave way to a shiny day. Fun south sets intermixed with northwest. Surfed second bowl and Sharks with the local boyz and had great fun. The news pounding my ears highlights the pitiful. 2,000 US boyz gone to spread freedom and protect me from terrorists in the middle east. And guess what - probably about 80 Iraqis lost for every US boy lost. I've been thinking about our own march to democracy. Nobody forced it down our throats, tried to displace thousands of years of culture with another, or used violent force to make it happen. Our democracy became our culture because it was born of it. The Iraqis have not had that chance. In fact, in our example we have shown that if you don't like the politics, then use violent force to change it. The insurgency has learned its lesson from US. Why should they accept the politics we push - we didn't accept theirs, and used force to trash it. It got me wondering what the creators of our Constitution would think of our need to spread freeocracy by the sword. So I checked into first principle - that is, what is the first principle on which our Constitution and thus government is based? The Constitution is clear, yet leaves room to be dynamic. "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Sounds groovy - no weighting on the objectives, except some of the words are capitalized. Union, Tranquility, Welfare, and Blessings of Liberty. It's hard for me to leap from these words to what we have today. Anyway, surfing Italy is still on the way - another shot to distract you from the culture bombing you receive on a daily basis. See ya in the zone! And by the way bird - my board is a truer shade of azul than yours - keep it real.  ¶ 11:36 PM