As a general rule, social intercourse with foreigners has not been the easiest task to accomplish, especially when there are language and deep-seated cultural barriers to consider. Personally speaking, having been reared in the New York-Philly area, I became familiar with many phases of the alien presence fairly early in the game. Even as a child, I took note of the various accents and was soon able to identify a persons origin from the way they pronounced words in English. Of course, that particular skill did little to assist me in being equally knowledgeable of their temperament. Quite to the contrary, this was an entity I had to learn through experience in the rles of schoolmate, neighbor and later in the arts and commerce. But, as I was growing up, it was obvious that these people were different those World War II refugees coming from the Nazi occupation and death camps of Europe. But, following a good ten years of self-imposed social avoidance, those of us who considered ourselves native Americans began to accept the presence of these poor souls whose only desire was to escape tyranny, work, watch their children grow, and help our country grow. But, since those days, we have had scads of other nationalities and cultures joining us as both refugees and invitees. And, like those unfortunates of the Post-World War II era, its been no picnic for them to achieve equality in the eyes of those who consider themselves as native Americans. And what the hell is this native business all about anyway? Check any so-called native-American family history and youll note the greater majority of these cannot trace more than two or three generations (say 125 years) in this country! Ironically, the only ones to have any sort of native claim are those whose ancestors occupied teepees and reared papooses to inherit tribal affairs. Of course, such American natives were eventually driven to extinction by the conquering White Man.

When I later embarked upon my career in Music and commenced my worldly travels, I was initially offered a position as a TOEFL instructor with a fairly large school in Asia. Now I was the alien and, likewise, not everyone open-mindedly accepted me, despite the fact they had invited me to work for them. HA! What irony. Here I was in a land supposedly a friend of the USA where I was forced to receive epithets like War monger and Capitalist pig plus a few other classics. But, was I really able to separate such deportment from that of my own countrymen? Not really. They visualized me with the same skepticism as we do most foreigners. But, when I finally began to understand the ways of the world, I learned how to make friends with people, began to trust, and was trusted. Later, when I performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, I truly began to understand Jewish culture. As a typical New York goy", my earlier affinity for Judaism, stopped short at bagels, cream cheese, and lox, while I harbored no appreciation for the innumerable Jewish contributions to world society that is, until which time I fell in love with and eventually wedded a lovely Israeli lass of Austrian decent. That was when I truly entered my course in tolerance. Yet, when I later returned to the States, I found that many of my old buddies and colleagues were referring to me as Alex the Jew-lover! What is my point? Its merely that ethnic, racial and religious prejudice is a normal part of life on this planet. Its here to stay and, likewise, is war.

What you say Rheno, in your erudite summarization of the current political scenario between Asian and the USA. is quite true. But, you must understand that Mr. Boosh (son of a boosh?) is but one of a multitude of buffoons weve had running the national circus. As for Israel, you shouldn't forget that it was Harry Truman (Democrat) who vowed an unyielding support for The State of Israel upon its establishment in 1948. No, there probably wont be any armed conflict between Iran and Israel in the foreseeable future, yet I find it a most uncomfortable thought that both countries should possess nuclear power. As they say in The Congo ... OY VEY!!!

The Arrogant One