DALLAS

Himself benefiting from my wish to check in at a cheap hotel or motel like Motel 6, the taxi driver carried me at the limit of the town. So far the transport will cost me more than the hotel—and not only once, but for every day while I will stay here. For proving his lack of sympathy, he was the first taxi driver who did not help me pick up my suitcases. I thought that in Las Vegas and Los Angeles I was lucky to find kind drivers. But I realized soon that Dallas is a different town.

The receptionist from the motel too was not polite. But at least her education —or the absence of it— did not cost me more. Surprisingly were the precautionary measures! The office looks like a very safe bank, or a well–guarded prison. Bars were doubling both doors and windows. She came out behind the bars of a window at the left of the counter. And only after she made sure that I do not want anything else but a room for rest, she closed that window, came at the counter, and lifted its windows— with bars as well.

The room is good, similar with other rooms of Motel 6’s network, proving that the system works even in Dallas.

The first morning in Dallas it turned out to be cold and windy, but it was a false alarm. About noon, it got warm, even nice.

The downtown has several high and imposing buildings. In USA, only New York has a huge center, if we think to Manhattan. The others have only several high buildings. Among them, Dallas could be considered to have a relative large downtown. But its characteristic feature is not the size, but the originality. It is just beautiful. A beauty made with glass and aluminum! It is hard to say if it has a real aesthetic value, or it is only an effect of the novelty, but I like it. It is obvious the town has a strong financial strength. Nothing Texan, can one see with tourist’ eye. Everything is only modern. The originality and modernism give the beauty of Dallas.

From the towns that I saw up to now, Dallas has the most modern center. Its architects knew how to bring together plants in the midst of the concrete, glass and aluminum.

I could not take photos of high buildings closely. The glass used here on large scale is useful. It reflects the neighboring buildings. I took such photos, aiming at the image of the building on the glass of the opposite ones.

A surprising thing! I am drinking a good coffee. It is for the first time in USA, where coffee is a waterish. I drank it like water, or instead of water, sometimes with a cup of 1/4 liter or even a pint. The name of the café is Renaissance Town, like the building. I cannot say I am feeling as fresh as a "burned–again" —as an advertising says— but surely I am more cheered up, not as much due to the caffeine, but thanks to remembering the taste of a good coffee.

In Dallas, like in other large towns, the activity in downtown occurs inside the buildings and underground— where everything one wants is to be found. The visible people are almost exclusively of second class— much inferior to those from Los Angeles, for example. And it is so, not only regarding this aspect, but also concerning people’s behavior. Many Afro–American people, lots, self–confident, showing that it is them who make the rule here. It is clear that their adaptation in the civilized world is tough when the essential will is absent. The offices area has a more comfortable position.

High class is not to be seen on the streets. They live separate. As for the middle class, I am wondering if it exists.

In the South without doubt it is much more disruptive behavior than the North. From the hygiene to the rightness and morality, everything is only more or less done in the South.

Being in Dallas, no one could ignore the name of Kennedy. I do not know where the other presidents were killed —Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley)—but Dallas is associate with this assassination probably forever. There are two monuments in Kennedy’s memory. One of them is ugly and without sense, made seemingly to furnish a waste ground. As an alternative, the other one is nice and close to the place where the tragedy happened.

The two of a kind, Dallas and Kennedy inspire lots of more or less philosophical thoughts, but for not falling is such a mood now. Here are some amazing similarities with Lincoln, which I received via Internet:

Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846; Kennedy in 1946;
Lincoln was elected President in 1860; Kennedy in 1960;
The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters;
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights;
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House;
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday;
Both were shot in the head;
Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy; Kennedy’s secretary was name Lincoln;
Both were assassinated by Southerners;
Both were succeeded by Southerners;
Both successors were named Johnson;
Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, was born in1808; Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson, was born in 1908;
Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was born in 1839; Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was born in 1939;
Both assassins were known by their three names;
Both names are comprised of fifteen letters;
Booth run from a theatre and was captured in a warehouse; Oswald run from a warehouse and was captured in a theatre;
Both assassins were assassinated before their trials;

And now, the kicker:

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was at Monroe, Maryland;
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was at Marilyn Monroe.

Beyond the joke, Kennedy remains a sad character in the history, despite his important role in the assimilation of Afro–American population. For the moment, the South still keeps segregationist sentiments. I remarked these sentiments in Georgia. The Martin Luther King’s land, in the aristocratic distance has the white people facing to the non-whites. It is strong visible in Dallas, where the lack of aristocratic elegance does not hamper them to keep the distance from each other. The effect is the expected one: the Afro–Americans are unruly.

About Kennedy’s decision, supposed to be one of the probably causes of his death, I remember a study that I read at the end of the 1960’s in a French publication. I keep in mind that moment, because then, trying to improve my French, I was looking for French publications, which used to be difficult enough to get in Romania of these communist years. The topic of the study was just an analysis of the ways in which the American politics could solve for long term the Afro–American’s matter. From these three possibilities – it is always nice to have three ways – the middle one was preferred, namely the assimilation. In fact, it was the single reasonable one, as the other two were inadmissible. This option seems natural today, but it was not the same forty years ago.

Coming back to my motel, the traffic is difficult. The car goes extremely slow. Yes, Dallas is a large and busy town, very active.

I remember something: "It is not what your country can do for you, it is what you can do for your country". Kennedy said it in his inaugural address.

Apparently, most people want money. As they never have enough, they spend almost entirely their life trying to earn more and more money. In this purpose, they often fight against each other with all means, more or less admissible. The goodness is forgotten. Becoming old–aged persons, they come to the conclusion that money is not too important. Why?

Actually, they have in view not money but certain concrete objectives. People want money for buying something: objects, services, power, etc. The objectives are not the same. A young person might want a bicycle, a motorbike, later on a car, another car, a house, a larger house, and so on. During his life, he frequently changes the criterion. As an old person, he wonders what was the utility of his efforts to reach these objectives, because his actual ones are much different. After a life of fight, sprinkled with lots of enemies, triumphant or defeated, he comes to the conclusion that goodness deserves a greater appreciation. Sometimes it is too late.

Education can make us to understand this truth sooner. That’s why justifying goodness is an everlasting topic.