I love the principles this country was founded on: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - However, I may not always agree with how we exercise democracy around the world.I see this country as the greatest experiment of modern times. There is power and challenge of truly living in community as people have different ideas about what freedom and happiness are for them... so it requires mutual respect, dialogue, and the willingness to compromise.

This was really apparent to me when, two nights ago, my family was having dinner on our deck in the beautiful summer night. My neighbor's large dog ran over and went after my small dog. This happened the previous night and I didn't say anything. This night, I asked my neighbor if he could keep his dog tied up so he didn't keep coming in our yard.

I was taken aback by what ensued. He yelled, screamed and berated me using expletives. The anger and hostility that emanated from him was palpable and scary. This is the second conversation I have had with him in six years, because the first wasn't that pleasant. When I asked, if I ever did anything to offend him to cause this reaction - he listed the two requests my husband ever made (pick up their tree that fell in our yard and we would help them do it, if he could pick up the fallen leaves in December as they were blowing in our yard). Both reasonable.

Does freedom mean do whatever I want, whenever I want, regardless of the impact on others? I think not.

If we can't co-exist with our neighbors, how can we solve world peace? Freedom does not mean I do what I want and bully others to comply. If we can't change this on a neighborhood level, how can we, as a country, change it with neighboring countries?