>Tracy,
>
>Reading your words:
>
>>Thanks for the kind words Jim.
>
>When I wrote in my message #768317:
>
>>That's true, and now you're imposing another terrible torture to this poor people: war.
>>
>>Think you should have compassion of then and find a humanitary way (for the Iraqi people, of course) to capture that criminal.
>
>You replyed in message #768334:
>
>>"I am? Are you responsible for everything your government does? Of course if I am personally responsible, then I will have to hop a plane and go over there myself then and stop Saddam myself from performing any more acts against humanity. Oh that's right, I cannot--there are no commercial flights into Bahgdad anymore... too bad. I'll just have to let the military handle it I guess. So nice of you to have the knowledge, power, and authority to let me know what my responsibilities are Fernando. thank you."
>
>Imediatelly I replyed to you apologising for the misunderstanding.
>
>I tried to find that message (where I apologised), to point you to it and ask if you haven't read it, but didn't find. Certainly I made some mistake and it was not sent.
>
>In there I wrote something like this:
>
>Sorry, Tracy, by any means I wouldn't blame a person so kind and concerned like you for such things.
>
>And tried to explain the misunderstanding:
>
>The problem is: in portuguese we have two different words for you:
>
>In portuguese: eu, tu/você, ele, nós, vocês, eles. In english: I, you, he/she/it, you, us, they (guess it's that way).
>
>When I wrote "...you're imposing another...", "...you should have compassion..." I was meaning you in the 2nd person of plural (vocês in portuguese, and more specifically your govenment, and not you (yourself).
>
>I apologise.
>
>I sincerelly hope you understand my above words, and ask you, please, to pardom me if unintentionally I hurt you. You can be sure it was not my intention, you deserve all my respect.
>
>Again, I apologize.
>
>>"Regardless of whether or not I agree with our country's foreign policies, those individuals have my complete support and I wish them all well and a safe return.
>
>They have my support too (if that counts). Also hope they can soon get back to their families, healthy and safe.
>
>Fernando

Fernando;

I think you meant “you” to be in the third person rather than in the second person.

For more than one hundred years United States citizens who are in a foreign country have been subjected to many things including beatings, incarceration, taken hostage, and even death, because of the country we are a part of. It is too easy to choose the wrong word and give your thoughts a completely different meaning.

When a person from a foreign country arrives in the United States they are welcomed or treated with total indifference. For a United States citizen traveling to another country you never know what will happen as you touch the soil of a different land. Not only have I read such things I know it to be true. For some reason United States citizens are targets for those that do not agree with the policies of our country. People talk about how “raciest Americans are”. We are not perfect but we do not go out of our way to terrorize others.

Perhaps every country has a few nut cakes (crazy people) who give concern for his/her actions. That can make any picture seem different than reality. An incident here or there is all it takes. Soon there is a perception of what reality is even though it may be an isolated case and remembered for too long.

Another perception I have of the United States from a historical aspect is when a United States citizen has a problem in a foreign country our nation rarely has attempted to assist them. I am speaking from 1776 until today. I am speaking about when the crime committed is that you are a United States citizen and have not broken the law of another country.

Tom