Ok, enough with the flags. Enough with the "God Bless America" signs. We get it. It took something like September 11th to remind us, but.. we get it. Enough already. I watched the news. I saw how the world grieved. I watched as Buckingham Palace played our anthem. I watched as hundreds of thousands gathered in Berlin to grieve. I watched as Canadians mourned... as Italians mourned.. as .. as.. the FRENCH mourned. As I watched this stunning outpouring of grief, I began to realize why other countries were so deeply affected by our tragedy. It's simple, really. "America" .... is an aberration. We're a nation made up of Italians, British, Germans, Irish, Mexicans, Polish, Greek, Cuban, African, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and, well... every other nationality on the face of the Earth. America is a composite sketch - a mutt nation. Thing is, that's what makes us great.

We're not pure bloods. We're a ragtag bunch of misfits who couldn't fit in the "motherland" - some out of personal choice (religious freedom, a dream of a better life) and some forced to come here on slave ships and bruised feet. There are those who view America as flawed. Well... of course we're flawed. You have to understand the historical CONTEXT of who we are and where we've been to appreciate this simple fact: we're only getting better. Slavery? Sickening, but.. that was then, this is now. Civil rights? To quote Patrick Swayze, ditto. Look.. things are not perfect. Black men and women are passed over for promotions on a daily basis; they're denied jobs - simply because their skin isn't pale white. Arabs are seen as terrorists. Gays are beaten in the streets. Jews are thought of as greedy and, well.. they only look out for themselves. Really? An ethnic group with a strong support network has my respect.

Hate is for the ignorant and .. the ignorant need to wise up. We all live in a special place - a land where we can say what we want and BECOME what we want - with enough grit and determination. Those who attempt to cloak themselves in martyr status will only succeed in perpetuating a stereotype. Don't protest. Be proactive. Don't complain. FIX the problem - look within yourselves. Don't criticize this country out of some 60's Beat Poet "ain't I cool" rebellious mentality. Appreciate how lucky we are - seriously. We're the most powerful nation on Earth. Countries bow to us. Countries WEEP for us. Countries go against their own people to make nice with us. We're not perfect, but.. we command respect. We're a good people. We're ABOUT something. We care - even if others don't. "America" ... is an idea.

That leads me to my next point - political correctness in wartime. Excuse me, but.. everyone shut up. This is war. War is not "PC". War was never MEANT to be "PC". You can't bomb your enemy one minute and then apologize for having bombed them the next. Are we at war or are not? If we are, say goodbye to political correctness. If the Red Cross is naive enough to build their facility right next to an airfield they KNOW we plan on hitting, well... sorry if we hit you by mistake. Bottomline: WHY be there? You know we're coming. Don't feign shock. You PURPOSELY put yourself in harms way. Are we shocked that someone in Kansas is hit by a tornado? Are we shocked that San Francisco is hit by an earthquake? Are we STUNNED that there's CRIME in the big cities? No... no because we KNOW better. We know better. I watch the news and see these "residential neighborhoods" in Afghanistan hit by errant missiles. Now.. "RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS"??? Please.. we didn't demolish Grovers Corners. We accidentally hit a few tents that were too close to a target. They knew we were coming - that we would go after some pretty high profile targets, but .. they stayed - like stubborn homeowners in the Carolinas during a Hurricane. Maybe they had no choice, but neither did we. Make no mistake .. it will happen again.

We are at war. It might not be a conventional war, but.. there's work to be done. Turns out.. our enemy is a coward. It's one thing to raise your rifle and charge, but.. to hit and run? To hide out in caves? Huh? What? I watch the news and see all these young Middle Eastern women so in love with Bin Laden - wanting to have his baby. Look.. I understand that our foreign policy isn't exactly beloved throughout the world. We like Israel; they don't. We respect many views; they don't. That said.. how can these attractive, educated girls look at what this guy has done (attacking unarmed civilians) and think he's some kind of hero? I GET the fact that you don't like our policy. I mean.. as much as we'd like to believe it, we don't always wear the white hat. We're fallible. Still... that kid at work on the 87th floor of Tower 1 was just ... at work. He probably hung out in a coffeehouse on weekends and protested the presence of US troops in the Gulf, but.. you somehow equated his life with that of .. an armed soldier's? Even during the Cold War, most Americans understood the fact that Russian citizens were not the "Soviet Union". They defected whenever they could. They came here for the same reason everyone else has - because America means freedom. It's a better way of life, if you play your cards right. We're not racist so much as we are class conscious. A rich black man is as "welcome" as a middle class white stockbroker. We don't really care if you're black or yellow on the outside, so long as you're red, white and blue (and green) on the inside. To be an "American" means ... you know the $$$ rules. We're not there yet, no. Class status shouldn't matter, but we're still light years ahead of others - and we are still in our infancy as a nation.

This is a great place we live in. I saw others from around the world mourn and .. it hit home. They didn't mourn simply because it was a tragedy. They mourned because.. through movies and music and our childlike joy, Americans have come to .. dominate the globe, culturally. They eat our hamburgers and fries. They love Cruise and Carrey. They watch Letterman. They listen to Springsteen and want their MTV. Every country in the world has relatives in the United States. It makes sense that the world grieved. I mean... they're us and ... we're them.