The view from the other side

One of the wonderful things about being friends with expats (and the wife of one), as well as growing up with kids who've been overseas is that I've been exposed to a fair number of worldviews - including historical and political - that are truly, in the most basic sense of the word, foreign.

It is only after you learn that there is another viewpoint that you can really start to see the shape of your own worldview, and question it. When you learn another culture, you can look back and question your own. When you learn another set of politics, the cultural signalling and stereotypes of your own become even stranger and more transparent.

With that, I present to you an essay from the president of Estonia - writing not as a president, nor as a politician, but as a thoughtful observer of human events. Just as the author is not American, neither is the intended audience - and that in itself is enlightening.

I'll Gladly Pay You Tuesday by Toomas Hendrik Ilves

Because that which is alien serves to make us know the world, and ourselves, better.