They are the names of the 13 American service members killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul Airfield last week. Pay close attention to the detail that most of these names are not your next-door Western North Carolina neighbors. There are no Smiths, Jones, Williams, Scott, Johnsons.

The point is that they all came from diverse backgrounds. Average age 22. The commonality is they stepped up to serve and take an oath to defend the rest of us ... although Facebook is loaded with cries of nativism—i.e., the policy of protecting the interest of native-born or established inhabitants. We are a nation of many. We have to respect that as a fact.

As an old Southern white boy, I got my first real test of broadening my misguided understanding in the belief I was significant in the great scheme of things when Sgt. Pacheco welcomed me to Fort Jackson in 1963. He saw that I was given the same green uniform as everyone else, regardless of where we were from, our name, race, or social standing.  

It was an extreme wake up realization in a limited minute. I was not as special as I had supposed I was …. I was welcomed, not with open arms by somebody delighted to make my acquaintance. It was the needs of our nation that were important. Not my self-inflicted importance.

Bob Scott

Franklin