As everyone knows, things in Kabul these days are hellish, with streets full of rubble, bombs exploding, soldiers patrolling, gangs of thugs beating people, dust everywhere, not enough food, terrified people dressed in rags and often barefoot. I see this on the news but have not personally experienced any of it.
Instead, I spent these past few days in a place that's the exact opposite of Kabul: the eastern end of Long Island, New York. This area includes the famous "Hamptons" -- East, West, South and Bridge, as well as the towns of Sag Harbor, Greenport, Water Mill, Peconic, and the fabulous Shelter Island, reachable only by ferry. The only things exploding in all of those places were bank accounts, to an almost unfathomable degree.
Driving from town to town we passed acres of grape orchards, dozens of wineries and lots of decked out farm stands selling luscious local produce. Approaching the villages we drooled over beautiful oceanfront homes mostly hidden from view behind ten-foot tall hedges. The commercial downtown areas were all quite similar one to another: lovely tree-lined streets full of high-end shops, ultra-expensive cars, pristine art galleries, fancy restaurants and lively outdoor cafes catering to a mostly white clientele. Often the town had a marina filled with sailboats, pleasure cruisers and personal yachts, a few roughly the size of the QEII.
Vacations are meant to be relaxing. But with suicide bombings and dead Marines dominating the news, sometimes it's hard to enjoy a world of plenty when so many have almost nothing.
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