Neutral Territory

Switzerland is known for its neutrality.  While on some level, this may be perceived as a good thing, we have to remember that if you are neutral, that means you do not take sides.  No further comment from me on that.

This country is clearly a melting pot with limits.   It is fiercely protective of its cultural purity.  But due to its role in the world economy, (where that same neutrality translates into its open, global banking business) they create an environment that attracts people from all around the world.  Today, riding the train, visiting this University town of Neuchatel, at the Zurich Airport, you can see that clearly.

This country is both the epitome of modern, pragmatic high-technology, and centuries-old traditional manual practices.  High speed trains on perfect schedules, full of high-tech professionals rush by fields of cows with bells around their necks in fields being tended by men with pitchforks who will stop by the local pub at days end.

My great grandparents left this land to travel by ship, around Cape Horn, to San Francisco and start a life in the New World. Growing up, my mother espoused the virtues of the Swiss, saying that in that country, "you could eat off the streets", it was so clean.  So, it was apropos that one of the first things we saw when she and my father took us there when I was a young teenager, was an old woman sweeping the streets with a stick and twig broom.  That began my fascination with all things Swiss.  But, I am a product of Northern California rebellious background, and not enamored with a culture that only as recently as 1990 finally gave women voting rights in all Cantons.  Regardless, I have always thought it was a better place to visit than it would to live in.

Perhaps that is what my great grandparents felt too.

In the mean time, I am here and proud to tell my work colleagues of my fairly recent Swiss heritage; more so than any other member of my team, interestingly.