Like you, CL, I'm not one of those, who, you know, whose parents got them a passport and a backpack and sent them off to see the world. Nooo, I have worked all my life. I got to see the world in the military. (Why didn't Toddy? ) I spent the years between the time I was 19 and 49 living in such exotic places as Panama, the Phillipines, VietNam, S. Korea, Germany (when it was still divided), France and Italy. I also lived in the Real America states of Alaska, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Louisanna and the not so American places like Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Hawaii and New York.

I got my book learnin' in high school and eventually even went beyond college. But my real education was gained living among various people, cultures, religions and traditions. And you know what I found? There are people everywhere! Real people! and some of them, even those who come from or live in those not-so-American places are---American! And they are Patriotic Americans! Imagine that! Imaging my surprise that someone who doesn't think like me, or look like me, or live like me, might also BE--like me--a proud American.