Travels

I've been blessed with the opportunity to travel all my life. Within the US, I've been to CA, TX, NM, AZ, AR, LA, TN, Nebraska, MO, OK, KS, CO, NV, IA, NY, MA, NH, NC, and UT. I took a couple of short trips to Canada and Mexico, too. I've actually lived in Los Angeles and Monterey in California, in Waco, Houston, and San Antonio here in Texas, and in Clovis/Portales in New Mexico.
I lived in Japan for 5 years, Germany for 10, and spent 4-6 months in Taiwan, Latvia, and Tajikistan. I've been to Iraq twice, plus Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. Those trips were related to Desert Storm and the current Gulf War.
I made the most of my 10 years in Germany. While stationed there with the Army as a Russian linguist, I visited the Netherlands (my wife's home country), France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Austria, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, the Czech Republic, and England. I've traveled extensively within the countries of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. It was something I always dreamed of, seeing the world. And I never wanted to see it on one of those "10 cities in 9 days" tours. I wanted to go places on my own, take my time, meet people and experience the cultures. All those trips have contributed to my character and personality. One thing I've learned is that the US has no business asserting its moral and cultural superiority. There are wonderful places in the world where people don't dream of coming to America. They even find the notion laughable.
Where do we get this arrogance? It puts blinders on us - we don't see that we're a country of murders, child and spouse abuse, drugs, stupid use of nonrenewable energy resources, poverty, no health insurance, home foreclosures, a shrinking middle class - I could go on, but you get my point. We're a mess - an empire in decline. We could do something to stop this decline, but our arrogance keeps us from even seeing it. I think we'll pay a high price, and I think we'll pay it soon.