Ah, World War II, a united, strong nation, working together.....

I grew up in Hattiesburg, Miss. during the war years, because my Dad trained for the war at nearby Camp Shelby. People then talked of two wars, the current unpleasantness and the Civil War (War Between the States, as it was termed locally). The CW was quite vivid and there was no love lost for those carpetbaggin' dammmyankees who were now infesting the Mother Soil.

Let's not even talk about the separate (but equal!) black and white porcelain drinking fountains in the local Woolworth's, or all the other baggage of a hermetically sealed, racist society. I attended my first three grades at a run down dilapidated school. I never had any idea of where or what black kids attended.

In many ways things have gotten better in this country, but they are far from perfect, and we probably have no very good idea of what the next bump in the road will be (I was certainly clueless on 811). That is why they are challenging....