Opinion | A song remembered, a future unwritten: what Alabama must decide next

Traveling across distant horizons has a way of changing us. It broadens how we see the world, and it alters how we see ourselves. Standing in places shaped by forces far older than our own nation—whether among the ruins of ancient Greece or the echoes of Europe’s monarchies—casts America’s present divisions in sharper relief. The lesson is unavoidable: democracy, freedom and national identity are never fixed. They are tested, bent and remade with each generation. And through that wider lens, we rediscover both the fragility and the promise of our own American experiment.

As we’ve traveled through Greece, we’ve met people from Austria, Belgium, Norway, Germany and beyond. The encounters have rarely been small talk. They often turn into searching conversations about the world we all share.