Finding America's heart and soul.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)

I am writing in response to Steve Bonta's cover story "America's Hidden Strength" in the March 22 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN. Although I'm an American citizen, I have been living overseas since 1991. Nothing makes a person appreciate his country more than spending a significant amount of time away from it.

I have just recently returned from a six-week visit to the United States and had the good fortune of spending two of those weeks driving through six upper Midwestern "fly-over" states with my family, showing them where I was born and where my roots are. Most of those two weeks were spent on rural highways driving through prairies, corn and wheat farmlands and cattle ranches. Almost without exception, the first visible landmark we noticed as we entered a small town (besides the town's water tower) was a church steeple that rose high in the sky.

It was refreshing to be able to fill up at gas stations where the owners trust strangers such as us passing through town enough to let us pump the gas before paying for it. It was thrilling to be at Mt. Rushmore amongst a crowd of fellow patriotic Americans who heartily sang (or at least mouthed the words) of "America the Beautiful" played over loud-speakers as huge floodlights illuminated the granite faces of four of America's greatest leaders against the dark sky. It was greatly encouraging to see numerous pro-life billboards and signs along many of the highways we were traveling on. It was perhaps most surprising to even come across a rather large monument engraved with the Ten Commandments on a college campus in one small town. Apparently, the ACLU hasn't noticed that one yet!

On a more close-up and personal level, one short visit to a ...