"Maxprop" wrote .....
A recent trip to Canada was an eye-opener for me. I expected, especially in
Quebec and Montreal, to be treated poorly by the Canadians. To the contrary
they were all exceptionally nice and friendly, without exception. I made
two new friends, with whom I communicate weekly. It seems that commonality
between individuals trumps political enmity every time.

True.

My stepson was asked to share his table in crowded resturant in Bern last
month. His German guest began the conversation with "We don't like Bush over
here." "Neither do we." "Trouble with Americans is you're all monolingual." With
that Dano showed the man their menus - his in Italian and English, the man's in
German and (guess what) English and asked "Why should we bother learning another
language?" By the time lunch was over they were friends..