Three topics today.

Topic One: The Wall.

I just returned from a couple days worth of meetings in Mexico...at lunch with some of our Mexican attorneys and partners, I asked what people thought of the border wall just approved by the US Senate.

One fellow said, "It's your f***ing land, you can build whatever the f*** you want on it."

"Foolish political posturing," one said, "don't tell me that many people in the US actually think it will work to keep Mexicans out. These are very resourceful and strong-willed people. A wall will not stop them."

Another guy told me I shouldn't worry so much about insulting Mexico with a wall, but instead should worry about insulting the rest the world by invading other countries based on faulty intelligence, and having a generally arrogant government. Some of the guys thought Reagan and Bush Sr. were outstanding presidents, especially Bush Sr. on foreign policy and building real coalitions. But most were shaking their heads over the perceived arrogance of our current President and his administration.

The theme was pretty evident: we have much bigger things to worry about than the wall; "your supply of friends in the world is dwindling fast because of your government's arrogance." But I say, the US is resilient. Our overall strengths exceed our weaknesses, and despite some declines, the best and brightest people in the world still very often want to come here to succeed at whatever they do.

Tangentially, here are some fascinating survey results from Pew.

Topic Two: Mr. Foley.

Other far more important things are happening in the world right now, but a couple thoughts: No, I don't think it is a giant conspiracy, but Fox News a few times in the past week has shown "Foley (D)" on the screen. C'mon...that's a little pathetic, don't you think? And Sean Hannity...good grief, he keeps trying to bring Clinton into this mess, and while Clinton's activities with Monica were wrong and pathetic and his lies about the same were inexcusable, it simply has nothing to do with Mark Foley.

And hopefully Hannity has stopped saying Monica was a "teenager" when she smoked the presidential pole. She was 22 when she met Clinton, for pete's sake. That's not to excuse it with the "consenting adults" line; it's just to get the facts straight.

Topic Three: Forgiveness.

I have read the Amish are forgiving the man who killed their daughters in cold blood. And I have read that the congregation of the minister killed by his wife at close range with a shotgun has forgiven her, despite the fact she has given no good reason. My heart goes out to all the people affected by those murders; I know what it is like to "get the call."

Forgiveness is such a personal thing, I can't tell people they are wrong for offering forgiveness. But I can say I have a hard time believing that *all* people who *say* they forgive heinous acts like these have actually forgiven the perpetrators. I believe that some people who say they forgive can truly forgive...but not all. Perhaps people say they forgive because their religion tells them they must forgive to get to heaven, so they say it in hopes that they will believe it and their friends and family will believe it. But in their heart of hearts, have they all really forgiven?

I shall never forgive Nancy for killing my father...and I hope that if I am ever murdered in cold blood, none of my friends or family will forgive the killer...but I would be gone at such point, so perhaps it wouldn't matter. (In fact, if you deeply believe that not forgiving the person will preclude you from heaven, then forgive away.) I occasionally dwell on the words of a religious leader who spoke with me the night before I spoke at Nancy's sentencing hearing, which was almost exactly a year ago. It seemed as if he was peering right into my soul when he spoke to me. He said, "not only do you have the right to not forgive this woman, you have the OBLIGATION not to forgive her, for the sake of your father." This is not to say I have an obligation to *avenge* him by doing something to Nancy; I was always in favor of leaving that to the criminal justice system...which did its job admirably in this case.

Wow, I need to stand down from the soapbox and get back to work!!