The melting pot of nationalities and sanities

When I first moved to Washington, DC, I had no idea how diverse the city was. I've met people from corners of the world I thought I'd never meet people from. While working at Verizon Wireless, I worked with someone born or from Trinidad, the country of Georgia, Liberia, Thailand and Brazil. I've meet people from Uruguay, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Peru and a Somali born Saudi Arabia. The number of Ethiopians here are impressive. Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, Algeria, Swaziland, Eritrea, Senegal, The Gambia – Africa is well represented. All the European countries, including Turkey, Albania and Poland.

But the ideology diversity has been most impressive. And not just what people think, but the actions of such people. I met this girl named Ginny who was telling me about her couple of months doing volunteer work in Afghanistan. I'll never forget her line (paraphrased), "Volunteering in Afghanistan may seem romantic, but it's a very lonely and isolated feeling when you're out there." I even hung out with some of the loyalists of the LaRouche PAC. Those cats are a bit extreme in their actions, like singing songs in German on the METRO.

Some people, though, are a bit too extreme for me. I've never met the latest cat who felt like he had to do something for whatever was on his mind, but climbing the fence to the White House is something I wouldn't recommend the average person.

The world has gotten a little crazy lately with all the global conflicts, especially the ones in which the U.S. has volunteered to participate in. Emotions run high as American teens are killed overseas at the hands of extremists opposed to our occupation in Iraq and other countries. Cindy Sheehan chose to voice her opinion and take it to George's pad in Texas. At least she stayed around the corner where legally no one could touch her. It's these folk jumping the fence to the White House or tossing stuff over it (or setting themselves on fire like a year or two ago) that confuse me. Do they really think someone is gonna listen to them after that?

I can only wonder what's going through their minds, what secrets do they know or what experiences have they gone through to compel them to do such things. As I walk the streets of Washington, DC, I can only hope unarmed fence jumpers is as crazy as it gets and one day, the world gets a bit more peaceful so no one feels compelled to do such a thing.