We're number 1. People shouting. Thrusting signs upward. Painted, bare-chested men. Everyone showing their colors. Signing our names with colored ink that represents our side. This is our national psyche. Most of us or at least many of us love it. As big as college allegiances are, and many pull for a big college team, even though they never attended college or even visited the campus. The emotions are closer to the surface in high school games. Everyone there knows the players off the field as well. No way that team could beat us. The refs threw the game. We have extended winning to our national persona. America is the best. We are the most innovative. We are the pioneers. We have the work ethic. We have the best soldiers, the fiercest weapons. Likewise, we know what is best, for ourselves and for everyone else. Do it like I do it and say it like I say it. We believe that soon every country on earth will be filled with English speaking people, practicing capitalism and democracy.

"What if this is as good as it gets?" The striking question from the movie of the same title. The people in the psychiatrist's office were shocked. The very idea that their lives might not be getting better, that they might not be destined for normalcy, that everything might not be all right, sent a shiver through each person in the room.

What if we aren't the best? What if we've been the luckiest? What if we live in the best, the safest, the richest place for natural resources, most temperate climate, etc? What if we are good and they are good too? What if our wealth really has come at their expense?

We should get out of Iraq. SSG Shane R. Becker, from Helena, Montana, age 35, died in Iraq last week. Pretty remote area, Montana. Easy to ignore in New York, California, and Georgia. He was 35. A career man. This wasn't the end he hoped for. An agony for his family and friends. I salute you, sir. We grieve for your loss.