You Can Never Go Home Again

Chuck and I were excited to fly from Muslim Malaysia to Hindu Bali last week. Malaysia is
a very industrialized, modern Muslim country where most women wear head scarves and alcohol costs twice what it does in the US. Bali, on the other hand, is full of gracious, tolerant people practicing ancient Balinese customs in the midst of visiting tourists.
We were especially excited to stay on the same beach, Legian Beach, where we stayed 30 years
ago after law school for Chuck. At that time, we stayed in a grass shack on the beach for $5 with
electricity for 3 hours each night and happy workers who brought breakfast to our door each morning, bowing as they arrived. Well, as Thomas Wolfe stated in his book, "you can never go home again!" Now our old shack is gone, replaced by a concrete skyscraper in construction. The main street is filled with McDonald's, 7 Elevens, many, many tourist shops and thousands of motorcycles everywhere. Sad, sad.
Amazingly, the women of Bali still practice their customs in this milieu. Every morning, they prepare a homemade offering of banana leaf filled with fresh flowers and trinkets and place it
in front of office or house, to ensure "good karma" for those inside. The Balinese people are so
gracious and spiritual that one can only hope they can preserve this culture in the midst of Western development. This is just a small bit of paradise left. How lucky we are to still see it!