The Middle East Showed Me a Window into America That I Did Not Wish to Look Through.
Some years ago, I had the opportunity to travel throughout most of Israel, and with a bit of deliberate violation of the strictures of my passport, some areas of Lebanon under Hezbollah control.
I was with an international group of military officers, not a US group, and so I travelled pretty much a different path than most American tourists.
I went through the myriad of checkpoints, wandered through Arab neighborhoods, spoke at length with Israelis and Palestinians.