In that time, any American citizen, when they wished, could visit and tour the White House, and leave a business card for the President. No tour group required. No metal detectors or bomb dogs. A real "open door" policy.
I couldn't comprehend it. I've had the pleasure of traveling through some southern towns in my life, and witnessed first hand what hospitality really was: people just wave hello just to wave. No prior introduction needed. It was a great thing to see. But that kind of hospitality and trust in the White House? Airports? Everywhere?
After finally digesting that this was, in fact, what the U.S. used to be like a short time ago, I was ofcourse halted by a very large question: What the hell happened?
The answer was a very short one: Islamic Terrorists happened. They are responsible not only for the giant amount of resources we spend trying to secure our civilian population, but the even much more critical price we pay: distrust and fear of everyone we do not know personally. Aside from petroleum, that is Islam's most influential contribution to the West (actually, to anyone): terrorism.
So, when I read another article about how "badly" some Arabic citizen was treated, I want to point them towards the middle east, and tell them "You reap what your brethren have sown".