Welcome Everyone, Take Our Country

I remember the curiosity and kindness that greeted me in the southern part of the United States in 1978. People went out of their way to meet this foreigner to their lands who came from such a far-away country. Many did not know where my country was but they knew it was an Iron Curtain nation where people lived under religious oppression, could not go to church, have a Bible in their homes, or pray. But they could not fathom the exploitation of the soul, body, and mind that my people had to suffer under totalitarian communism. There was a welcoming committee everywhere I went which made my adaptation to freedom and American life so much easier. I jumped every time there was a knock on the door and my heart raced when I saw a highway patrolman, an officer, or the sheriff. To me, they were not there to help, on the contrary, they were there to oppress just like the police I had experienced in my communist country.