Every day there is something happening in the world. Sometimes, it is the kind of thing that may have a long term effect on history. Other times it may be shocking. Sometimes it seems insignificant, until many years later. News is like a long thread that intertwines into the fabric of our lives, perhaps it is more visible in certain parts of the pattern, but it is forever being woven. Vacation doesn’t move us away from the news. We may be less or more aware of the events unfolding, depending upon our location at the time. News and current events can be a great piece of information to include in a travel journal, or in any kind of journal really. Perhaps future generations will be able to look at your writing, and make those all important connections to history, all because you chose to detail a little about the world at the time.
Volkswagen
For as long as I can remember, I have had a love affair with the German manufactured, Volkswagen. The first family car that I can remember, was a blue “beetle”, affectionately referred to as a “bug”. As of 2012, Volkswagen was considered the second largest car manufacturer worldwide. The first car rolled off the assembly line in 1937 and they have had a strong worldwide presence ever since. I fondly remember my own children playing “slug bug”, a game in which they would strive to be the first to punch their sibling or friends, if they saw a beetle on the road. While the beetle was the first of the cars that Volkswagen produced, there were many others which followed. Each new model strove to better the mileage and emission output. Eventually our little bug was sold, in exchange for an orange Datsun. I hadn’t really considered that many of my family would continue to connect strongly to this manufacturer. However, just recently, while traveling to Denver, my brother and I were watching a car show, where the now classic beetle was being proudly displayed. The fact that it also happened to be blue, brought back good memories for both of us as we remembered our old car. I then shared a ride, in my brother’s Volkswagen Jetta. He educated me on the affiliation that the company also had with Audi, a brand owned by both my mother and her husband. It was one of those conversations that was casual, a bit of trivia to learn at the time. Just a couple of weeks later, on September 21, 2015, I would be traveling in England when the news about Volkswagen broke worldwide. They were embroiled in a scandal which would cost them billions. It appears that they had knowingly falsified their emission results, claiming much better efficiency than their cars were actually getting. Consumer trust was broken. This wasn’t the first time that this company had seen massive controversy. In 1998, they had admitted that 15,000 slaves were brought from concentration camps during World War II, to keep the production line moving. I am sure that Volkswagen will recover. I am sure that I will continue to enjoy seeing the classic little bugs, which grow fewer each year. Like many stories that are heard these days, I am sad for the lack of integrity that seems to prevail with society today. Perhaps the media just allows this to be more obvious now. Perhaps, as Volkswagen has already demonstrated through history, a lack of integrity has always existed.