When ever there is talk of living on sailboats, that talk inevitably turns to pirates.
While it's scary, and there's no denying that piracy exists, the simple fact is that it's blown out of proportion. Why do we hear about it around the globe when pirates strike? Because it's so rare an event that it's newsworthy.
Compare that to school shootings in the USA. How many did you hear about in the news? If you had to guess, how many would you say there have been this year?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to falter, as Russian troops run low on everything.
Within the last two weeks Russia began conscripting civilians to join the military, in a desparate attempt to bolster troop numbers. This resulted in an immediate flood of Russian citizens attempting to escape the country, trying to avoid the draft. On the first night, airports were packed as every aircraft leaving Russia was sold out. Borders with neighbouring Finland and other Baltic countries had long queues of vehicle and foot traffic.
This brings to mind the questions of borders, and their benefits and drawbacks... The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
There are some people in the USA that are very confusing. One minute they will be screaming that you can't trust the government, "Big Brother is out to get you". The next minute those same people are hollering "Build the wall!".
Borders are designed primarily to keep foreigners out. But those same walls can also be used to keep citizens in.
We recently sent in our passports for renewal. While we don’t do a lot of international traveling- maybe once in 5 years or so- we do keep our passports up to date. Ours expire in August, and since some countries won’t allow entry on a passport with less than six months left on it, it was time to renew. Yes, that does mean that for certain purposes, like entry to another country, passports for practical purposes expire six months before they say they do.
It is true that if things are so bad in the US that we must flee the country, other places may be worse, or may simply refuse Americans entry. On the other hand, getting from Point A in the US to Point B in the US MIGHT require crossing a border. I used to drive from Wisconsin to New England every summer. I usually took the US route, but once I tried the Canadian route. That is where a passport would be critical: it provides route options not open to people who don’t have passports.
Avoiding a problem area in the US might require a circuitous route, either by driving or flying into another country. If one wanted to get from New England to Idaho during a major breakdown in which the entire Midwest was already in chaos, it might be safer/faster to either drive or fly through Canada. Circumstances at the time would dictate that of course, but not having a passport closes off the option.
