I retired as an American bureaucrat in the summer of 2020. It was a good time to part ways with the establishment. I spent the next several months wandering the country in search of understanding. To this end, I traveled back and forth between coasts for the first time since the early 1990s. I viewed the country from the window of a small station wagon, from lunch counters, from truck stops, from homes, and from national parks.

The timing of my trip did not provide the level of connection with individual humans possible before the plague struck, but provided ample food for thought and reasons for both optimism and pessimism. I found a nation that seemed to neither understand itself nor one another. On the other hand, I also found a nation full of individuals that were largely worthy of respect and admiration for their resilience and humanity.

As background, I spent much of my adult life abroad. I have ample experience peering in on America through the eyes of an outsider. I think I understand better than most of my fellow countrymen the nature of America’s relationship with the world outside; however, my understanding of how America sees itself came only through interactions with friends and family back home and through media (both modern and traditional). This view was imperfect at best.

My travels this year only partially illuminated the deficiency. The subject is one that would take many lifetimes to study, and the pace of change would doom the effort to failure. The America I left in the late 1990s was not the one I returned to more than a decade and a half later. The America seen through the lens of a bureaucrat in Washington was not the same America seen through the myriad of other possible lenses.

Success in my goal to understand is of no value unless the understanding can be shared. This series of musings and stories are the down payment on that sharing. Please have patience with me while I learn to share. Please forgive the awkwardness of my prose, and any potential hurt feelings. Please share with me your reactions and suggestions.

Cheers!