What Lies Ahead

You can sense that Spaniards are excited about their future. Spain is a country that over the past twenty years has dramatically raised the level of all its citizens. It is a country that seems to be eradicating poverty, making it a thing of the past, treating it as if poverty has no place in the 21rst century. I saw Spain as a country striding confidently into this new century, practically giddy with the prospects of what the future will bring yet holding on to their past with an almost desperate effort to preserve every brick and cobblestone put in place by their ancestors.

The restoration of older buildings in Madrid borders on obsession yet beneath the city pulses one of the best metro systems in the world. They have decided that holding on to the past while forging ahead to the future are not collision courses. Madrid’s Atocha train station is a great example of how the past segues into the future. Built in 1889 Atocha Station has been transformed to meet the needs of a 21rst century metropolis, fully integrated not only into the nation’s rail network but also into the urban transportation needs of Madrid. The same can be said of Madrid’s Barajas airport. It too is connected to the city’s mass transit system and is only minutes away from any place in the city at a cost of less than a can of soda. I have to pay about $28 bucks to get from my apartment in Seattle to SeaTac Airport. Good thing I’m loaded.

Every Spaniard I talked to about their ever-growing network of high-speed rail lines was practically gushing with pride about the projects. They should be proud; the rail lines are truly a marvel of technology. You can either sit in your expensive automobile, paying your expensive insurance as you drive down the freeway going perhaps 80 mph while dodging other yahoos on the road like some horribly dangerous version of space invaders, or you can sit in a comfortable train sipping a glass of wine and go 180 mph safely. Take your pick.

The Spanish (and other Europeans) have picked and now they can’t build these rail lines fast enough. Rail lines that will cut travel time by as much as 75% on the Madrid-Barcelona line. Of course the lines are terribly expensive. These are dedicated rail lines without a single intersection with automobiles. Can you imagine thousands of miles of train track that every road must either go over or under?

But they are looking to their future. They are investing in their future. They are all in it together. Universal healthcare is a part of their constitution. Their commitment to public education is stronger than ever. They are committed to the future.