…if he read this story, but I swear every detail is true.

I was at a gas station yesterday – at one of those increasingly-rare full-service stations. The attendant approached the window and heard I was listening to a talk show discussing the war on terror (Jay Severin, “Extreme Games,” weekdays 3-7 on WTKK, 96.9 out of Boston).

“You know, we’re not so far from a Muslim nation,” he remarked.

I didn’t quite know how to react. “Hm? What do you mean?”

“I am from Lebanon.” (No, it didn’t make sense to me then, and it still doesn’t, but it’s what he said.)

“Really? I was born in Lebanon myself,” I answered. He started and began to smile until I added, “Lebanon, New Hampshire.”

He started to frown. “Americans are always taking the names of other places and using them for themselves.”

I bit back the brief twinge of irritation I felt, and instead forced a slightly thoughtful tone into my voice. “No, I don’t think that’s the reason. America is made up of people who came here from all over the world, and I think they named places to remind them of where they came from. New Hampshire’s got a Lebanon, Milan, Berlin, Manchester, Portsmouth, Canaan, Hebron, Canterbury… there’s a China and Paris in Maine… only places with Native American Indian names are named by the people who were here first, like Lake Winnipesaukee and the Ompompanoosuc River.”

He got a little thoughtful himself. “I never thought of it that way.”

I gave a rueful chuckle. “I never did before, either, until you mentioned it.”

He hustled off to attend to another customer, and it left me to thinking about all the implications behind a “melting pot” and a “nation of immigrants.”

Purity is overrated. The purest iron is virtually useless next to alloys. Purebred dogs are prone to genetic ailments, while mutts can be virtually indestructible. Pure oxygen can kill you. Pure sodium and pure chlorine will, too, but when blended, are critical to life. Hybrid crops and flowers thrive. And dammit, the Politically Correct crowd is actually on to something – one of our greatest strengths is our diversity.

J.