Take Me to the Casbah

Great news via email! My wife's oldest son, Jon, has arrived safety in Morocco.

He joined the Peace Corps when no other job turned up. The kid is what we need for our future Presidents - he has more international experience than our present President Bush when he took office (who had been in only 3 countries, which probably explains why our foreign policy is such a mess -- unlike that of Poppa Bush, a true global guy). 

Jon's 25 and has had girl friends from Eastern Europe to Colombia. You American girls have got some competition there.

Morocco is home to Casablanca which had an Al Qaeda bombing a few months ago evne though its a Muslim country (remember Osama? Al Qaeda has done bombings from Bali to Saudi while we fixated on Iraq. Saddam never left Iraq, so he was less traveled than Bush the younger--which expains why they both made cultural gaffes. Saddam's was that the Americans would never attack; Bush's was that the Iraqis would run out offering flowers and wouldn't mind if we took over their oil). Actually, most Iraqis were glad to be rid of Saddam--until we started shooting civilians and seemed not to care about it. But I digress. Back to Jon.

For any young people reading this, consider the Peace Corps. It's a chance to show the world the best of our young people- Jon will be helping Morocco artisans find markets for their products. This is how we will win favor in the world. US AID is another option. Jon and those like him are Global Americans. It's the best "power" we've got.

I think part of being an American should require 2 years of public service right out of high school or college - 1 year working in a diffferent part of the the U.S. from where a person is raised, and 1 year somewhere overseas. This is how minds are opened to the world we are in - and global good is done. I'm really proud of what Jon is doing. We need more like him.

Photo above: A marketplace in Marrakech, Morocco. I'll be happy to give Jon's email address to anyone who wants to write and encourage him.

Oh yes, a "Casbah" is a village fortress or town.