I have been living and working in Laos for five years now, and though I connect with the community I live and work in, I am still an American. I am am American who takes pride in my fellow Americans, and feels ashamed when we screw up. I am an American who votes absentee, and I am an American who goes “home” every year feeling a little more detached from the realities of the American life. I watched out my office window the day Hillary Clinton visited Laos, her being driven down the street in the motorcade, the sirens of the Lao police assigned to assist her transport blaring into the streets. My heart felt swollen with pride that MY country was FINALLY taking notice of Laos. A country that has been ignored for too long. Her historic visit was marked especially by her visit to the COPE Center, where she was given a tour of the facility and spoke with those affected by the thousands of UXOs still littering the country. I felt pride, …