Today I Really Appreciate Being An American....

No, I surely don't wake up everyday and say, Gosh, it's good to be an American. In fact, I doubt many of us do. However, something that happened a few days ago made me think about what it means to live in a country that allows its citizens to do just about do anything they want, to have freedoms that in many parts of the world people do not have. In particular, I'm talking about freedom of speech.
A few days ago, a person who lives in a county far away asked my permission to use a few of my stories (See Buy My Damn Book). The person is putting together a book of one hundred short stories and obliviously, I was quite flattered that a few of mine were chosen.
Sadly, like many Americans I know little about countries other than ours. Yes, I read the news and know about some of the horrible things that happens to citizens in other places who speak their minds. In fact, this person lives in a country where you can be killed, yes, murdered by the state, for saying the wrong things about gods. Yes, religion again.
Can you even imagine getting up in the morning and having to watch what you say?
So, I'm going to try to keep in mind our right to freedom of speech. And, I'm hoping that if anyone is reading this, they too will get up and think, if only for a moment, that's it's great to live in a country where we can say what we want.