How different are we?

One of the great joys I get out of traveling is not discovering only the differences within the country and people I encounter while out on my travels, but also the similarities:

--when you hear a person laugh
--when a child cries
--when two siblings fight amongst each other
--when parents board a plane with three kids, 15 bags and that stressed out look in their eye as they board a plane.

Can you tell what ethnic background someone is by their laugh or cry?

Can you tell what religion someone is by how they break up a fight amongst their children?

This morning waking up in Paris, hearing the news of Osama bin Laden's death the first thing I thought-- wow they got him. The next thing I thought was this is not over. 

For those of us who travel, we are no less in danger today, than we were yesterday. For our troops in Afganistan, Iraq, and around the world, this does not mean they are coming home tomorrow. For those who died on 9/11, for the soldiers and civilians who have died fighting over the past 10 years and will not be coming back, the death of Osama bin laden does not make terrorism go away.

I have not been able to see much of the news as I'm currently on a bus to Normandy. But I have seen Facebook and Twitter and as I read about my fellow Americans celebrate the death of Osama Bin laden, I realize once again we are more alike than ever as fellow Americans dance on the grave of Osama bin Laden just as Al-Qaida sympathizers dance on ours.