There I sat in my apartment, preparing photos for my Southern Tier travel log. I searched my mp3 collection for something to entertain my ears while I worked in Photoshop.

Nothing sounded right. All that familiar noise made me yawn. Then I recalled an episode of This American Life I heard more than a year ago about a teenager, Hyder Akbar, who travelled "home" to Afghanistan with his father in hopes of aiding the reconstruction of that country.

Sitting in my comfortable office chair, I found the episode on the show's web site. There are two, one-hour episodes. Click here to listen to them and be reminded of how comfortable life is in these United States.

I admire Hyder's sense of purpose and ambition.