When I first started on the web I was a normal American internet surfer. I lived in my bubble where foreign news was a blip on the screen and nothing more. Two seconds of a statistic. A death count. Then on to fluffy kitties and children who did lame science projects. I was pro military, pro death penalty and everyone loved the US in my eyes. And why wouldn't they? After all, we had ALL the technology, the medical breakthroughs and good will donations. When I first saw anti-American sentiment I was shocked. How could they not like us? More and more negative comments came up and I chalked it up to ignorance. After all, they didn't know us. Then 9/11 hit and the world came flooding in. Slowly my eyes opened, REALLY opened, and I saw what other people saw. The bullying. The arrogance. The facade. Our media fed us Grade A American Born propaganda and we joyfully swallowed each bite. After all, we were the good guys.

Six years later I am still forming a more enlightened opinion of the world and our role in it. I support the military, but not it's actions. The death penalty isn't a deterrent... and is hard for me to support. My country... that's the hardest one. Someone asked me how I could love ground. That it made no sense. To them, the only place you should feel a sort of dedication to ends at your front door. I can understand his point, but I am not ready to make that change. I probably never will. For all our mistakes it's still a great place to live.

The hardest part for me is to read comments from people just starting on the web. The 'unenlightened' souls that swear the US of A is the best place to be and our military is nothing short of heroic. They beat their chests and swear we're the most powerful country and everyone else just needs to follow our lead and it will be okay. G-d help those who don't. One nation, ONE religion and everyone else is tolerated... but barely. Racism is okay when it's against those who are different. Our Constitution is just like the Bible... Unless the Bible has different ideas. The worst part is that they don't want to learn. They don't want to know how others feel. They just don't care.

One world. One life (seriously, shut up). One kind. Simple rules we all can follow with this in mind. I wonder if we'll ever get to the point of breaking down the walls that keep us from growing. If we can just get past the borders....

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Those are the people I wanted to leave behind in Montana. And Colorado to a lesser extent. I've been itching for the coast partially because that's where the open-minded folks seem to reside. (Generally speaking.)

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