back stateside, and safe in el paso

Our latest adventure in Mexico is over.

I have lots of thoughts from the visit on Mexican business culture, on the balance between American prosperity and Mexican labor, and on my experience hand-building parts on the manufacturing floor (and I'm sure I'll get to those... all in good time), but crossing the border and seeing flags flying always reminds me of how thankful I am for the opportunities I have being an American.

The vehicle border crossing at the Zaragoza bridge.

Crossing the border in Juarez is always a strange and sort of surreal experience - and doubly so after the events of this week. A friend of mine wrote an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal this week on what it means to be Muslim-American (an excellent piece, and I highly recommend it!), and today, as we walked across the Zaragoza land bridge, over the Rio Grande and back into the states, I took a minute to read the words on page 14 of my passport:

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”