Icon: You address some very personal and difficult issues and ask the questions we all ask at some point iin life....or should ask.  What's going on here?  What's my role?  Where do I fit in the large them of things?  I appreciate and respect your focus on "here, now" and the "future".  I agree that the concept of "American Exceptionalism" is at the heart of the many (IMO) mistales we continue to make as we interact with other nations and people around the world.  We act like "what is good for America is good for everyone else" and we need to force it upon them.  I see it a lot like the "White Man's Burden" which was used to justify the colonization of Africa..... regards, Gary