On the line between Watertown and Woodbury, Connecticut, are three metal sculptures of eagles and the invitation to take photos.  One eagle bears the US flag and dog tags; it carries the message of grief and patriotism and honor.  The other two eagles on a scrap of Connecticut farmland are all muscle and power and intention.

They're beautiful.  I would love to know who created them, how he learned the craft, how he came to so passionately create eagles.

I would love to learn these things in a conversation free of the party politics of the hour.  I believe that the patriotism that drives the artist is the patriotism that drives me.   It deserves a stronger voice.

When Ed and I stopped to take pictures a few weeks ago, a non-English-speaking Slavic family also stopped for pictures.  Unlike us, they posed with the eagles. I watched them and thought of my Google news feed and the stories of Putin and Snowden and doping.  That was one world.  The world where I live and families from far away show up for pictures with anonymous sculptures of bald eagles is all about finding a good place to work hard and make a safe world for your kid.

That's what we're here for.  That's what America does.

Our World Tuesday