Basic training was an eye-opener. In my little class were Americans whose ancestors had come from many cultures: Croatian, Japanese, Irish, Chinese, African, English, Polish, French, Mexican, American Indian, German and Scottish. Some had wealthy parents. Some had barely managed to escape the ghetto. There was a farm boy from Iowa and a Yank from Long Island. There were Catholics and Baptists, Presbyterians and Jews. We depended on each other. We laughed with and at each other. We suffered equally.
Our "diversity" would have fulfilled any liberal's misguided sense of the ideal quota. But we were really not diverse at all. We were all only Americans, trying to get by and believing that it mattered.
On this Thanksgiving day I am thankful for those guys and for this great country. And I am thankful for friends like you and all the others here. Happy Thanksgiving.