Wow, so much wisdom in this piece. Imagine meeting you here!

A small gift in return that comes to mind in response to your statements about Americans: I had an interesting exchange with the former Mexican ambassador to Ethiopia. She was passing in front of my home in SW France. She asked me where I was from. I replied that I was American. She chuckled and said, “yes, so am I, but where are you from?” I was confused on two counts: I had told her where I am from, and how was a former Mexican diplomat an American? She scolded me in a friendly way: “Everyone in North, Central, and South America are Americans. I’m from Mexico, so I am American. Someone from Chile is also American. Everyone from Africa is African, everyone from Asia is Asian, and everyone from Europe are Europeans. It’s only you silly Americans from the States that think you alone are Americans and everyone else in the Americas are immigrants.

So now when someone asks me where I am from, I reply “I am Irish, from New York, living in France — Irish by citizenship, New York by origin, and France by residence. Oh, and I am an American by birth, like most people born in the Americas!

It changes one’s American perspective, no?
😊