For about 4 years...my brother Jack has his friend Altine come for Thanksgiving. I am not kidding do you want to see exactly who Altine looks like...go here. I do not kid. Spitting image. It is uncanny.
Well...Altine is from Albania. He is a pretty funny guy with a great accent. He is charming...and no....I am not gay. This guy has mojo. He is cool.
Altine is here in the US...he fled Albania. Apparently he was knee deep in the fighting....this guy was definitely a soldier...on what side...I cannot tell. This guy has witnessed death first hand. Grizzly stuff. As close as my brother Jack is to Altine...and as open as Altine is...he doesn't talk about his past.
This Thanksgiving...he said two things that I put on the back burner to process. First....that he likes the US...it is a very “religious” country..(religion is present) and he thinks this county benefits morally from religion. It was interesting and I never engaged him further. I will tell...and I am fairly intuitive, that what he was saying was heartfelt and it was a conclusion that her personally came to.
Second...this one is even more thought provoking..... He just became a US citizen after five years. He said he loves the United States even though it does not have the freedom of other countries around the world. I was startled...but again...this guy has traveled more than myself...and of course...has a lot more worldly experience.
However, later on...I did my own personal translation of what he said.
One...religion here in the US, because of the freedom we have...is openly and freely expressed.
Two...Freedom. I think he translated the lack of freedom...that we experience, with the laws of the United States that limit us...from being lawless. I think Altine experienced much more lawlessness growing up and he confuses lawlessness with freedom.
Does this make sense?