Navel Gazing
For the past month I have been monitoring my websites using Google Analytics. The program is a bit much for blogs; it offers a lot of information that’s only useful for ecommerce websites. Still it does offer some interesting tidbits like this:
Total visits: 4,779
1. United States 3,347
2. United Kingdom 310
3. Canada 220
4. Germany 123
5. Australia 67
6. France 48
7. Netherlands 37
8. Poland 28
9. India 27
10. Spain 27
Over 90% of my traffic is from the USA. No surprise; I’m American and write what I know. Still it’s interesting to see roughly a hit a day from Poland. I even have single hits from Iraq, Yemen, Mozambique and Estonia.
I’m an American and I’m proud of my country. But as I have written often, you can be patriotic and still want to see other nations thrive and succeed. And not just Tanzania, Israel and Japan – nations that I have lived, or in the case of Israel admired since I was a kid. Patriotism is not zero-sum. A strong America doesn’t mean a weak China; a prosperous USA does not mean a poverty-ridden India. I hope that the visitors from nations such as these recognize that I may be an American patriot, but I’m not an American bigot. I doubt that they will; I may be an idealist, but I’m not an idiot.
Jack:
To succeed at being manly a man must court success,
Not only always for himself but also for the rest,
To rise he labors in the night to help secure the shore
So that when the gale does blow the line is not ignored,
In far off lands they talk of men who watch the gathered night
And wonder if those guardians will come to join their fight
And in those far off lands you see men wonder in their beds
Do other men true comprehend our preparations bred?
One looks upon the eastern sun a’rising in the morn
16 May 2008, 4:09 pmAnd watches for his allies come with bravery adorned,
The other watches at the set of sun and rise of night
A’wondering if he can help to make all things a’right,
We see the world from our own land by history described
And speculate if other men are likewise circumscribed,
And yet until that day is come when men are face to face
We cannot know the other, we know only that they wait.