Ask an American what makes his/her country great.  What does the American tell you?

“It is our standard of living.” “It is our democracy.”  “It is our educational system.”  “It is our freedom of religion.”  “It is our right to travel without fear within our borders.”  “It is our right to due process.”  ” It is our charitable nature”.  “It is our military.”

All of these answers are correct—and here is the reason.  They all depend on the People of the United States to make it happen.

Today, I am in New Orleans attending a seminar on taking better depositions in an era of tremendous juror bias against Plaintiff attorneys and the people we represent. You would think that after 32 years of practicing law and taking hundreds of depositions I wouldn’t need the training.  That is a whole other story for another time–suffice it to say an old dog must and should learn new and better ways to help his client win.

Our country is great because we  have loving hearts and generous souls.  When you look into the eyes of the residents of New Orleans I have no idea of the pain, the suffering or the individual stories.

But we connect with our eyes, with our soul and with our common pride in our country.  The surviving New Orleans eyes are more experienced today than they were before Katrina.  But they are laughing eyes.  They are welcoming eyes.  They are the window to the soul which is the strength of America.

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