I’ve lived in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, and they were all great in different ways, but there’s a reason that much of the world still sees the U.S. as a “shining city on a hill.”

There is freedom here; freedom to try things and even more importantly, freedom to fail and then try again. No one cares about your lineage or your ancestors or your fancy-schmancy school; it’s “what have you done for me lately?” Do you have the chops or don’t you?

Yeah, we have Big: big cars, big houses, big butts. We spread out because we CAN, because our nation itself is big and spread out and we have plenty of room and we “go West, young man” whenever we damned well please.

We think Big, too. That’s why Apple and Microsoft and the automobile and a lot of early space travel started here. We are the “richest country in the world” because we work our tails off.

You can also turn on the tap in this country and reasonably clean, drinkable water always comes out. The lights come on and the telephone has a dial tone all day every day. I don’t have to bribe anyone when I renew my car registration or my passport or enroll my kids in school.

I love to travel, I love to live all over the world, but I also love to come home.

Thanks, Sheila

Sigh, lap it up … meanwhile, I wanna go home.