Several decades ago, I was working as an apprentice reporter on a French-language daily newspaper in Brussels. Maybe I should write about that eye-opening experience in a Malcolm's Memory sometime. I loved it, though "humiliant" (humbling) would be a good description.
Anyway, at the end of my time there, the editors of that national newspaper assigned me to write an article about my impressions of their country. So, I did. I loved Belgium. I especially loved being me in Belgium at that time.
The headline they wrote for the article translated roughly as, "He Sees Through Rose-Colored Glasses a Belgium That We Too Often See in Grey."
That sweet, vivid memory jumped to mind recently as I watched my RedState colleagues here and others elsewhere online covering the amazed impressions of foreign tourists experiencing the United States for the first time. They were having the same time-of-your-life experience here that I did back then.
These people were here on a once-in-a-lifetime bucket-list trip ostensibly for World Cup games. They came with a foreboding pre-set notion of this vast country shaped by their media back home. ICE agents searching everyone everywhere, etc.
What they got instead were some valuable and unexpected lessons. And new friends.
They take home to Europe and Asia a vast, heartwarming array of positive impressions of our country about so very many things that we see every single day but miss completely just as often. For instance, the scale of our land, the abundance of everything, air-conditioned stadiums, and the astounding concept of "Free Drink Refills," among many things.
There's an invaluable lesson for Americans in seeing them see us at this time of severe divisions and celebration of our long history. And my thoughts on their thoughts are what I turned into this week's brief audio commentary.
You can hear it by clicking here on the U.S. flag, appropriately enough. As always, do not forget to leave your own impressions in the Comments below
This week's Sunday column analyzed the still-unfolding war between the United States and Iran. It wasn't easy in the available space to pull together honestly the conflicting strains of the conflict, strategically and politically.
Despite some reports you may have seen, the conflict is far from over. But this report might serve as an interim look at this important string of events:
The Iran War Was Right -- This End Deal Not So Much
And the long string of Comments reveals a fascinating range of reactions that you might or might not agree with. The Comments are still open, by the way. So, feel free.
This week, I also posted another in the ongoing series of Malcolm's Memories, this one tied to Father's Day, with new details about life with and without my Dad. As regular readers here will know and new ones come to understand, he left a lasting impression on me and, as it turns out, on others too.
The most recent audio commentary was on the new Obama Presidential Center on the south side of Chicago.
The grim looks of it have prompted countless comments, few of them complimentary. I admit up front that I do not have fond memories of him, his wife, or those days. I know I am not alone.
To me, that ugly Obama building that cost nearly three times its original estimate is a perfect representation of that Democrat's attempt to impose his "radical transformation" on this special country whose voters voluntarily placed their electoral trust in him as their first black president.
As gratitude, he then went on a global tour to openly apologize for that trusting country.
The Obama Presidential Center, a Monument to Malfeasance
