Watching our favorite weekend program, the C-Span book channel, we listened to highlights from The First Measured Century, by Theodore Caplow, Louis Hicks and Ben J. Wattenberg. From the information they gathered they said that at the beginning of the century, we were about equal in population with major countries in Europe, but as the century ended we had as much population as those combined.

All the countries, including us, have reached zero population growth. The difference is immigration. US President Lyndon Johnson opened the doors to immigration. He believed in racial equality and that made him open the way for immigrants whom we had previously denied entrance.

Just think of it. As we see news programs about pockets of immigrant populations all over the country it makes it clear that we have to become very proactive in welcoming peoples and giving them a vested interest in America.

The only way we can have peace is to give it away. We have to come to terms with our diversity and embrace it. We must become one America, indivisible and indistinguishable to make sure we own, love and appreciate and protect this great experiment in Democracy.

We Americans have to be the most sophisticated, educated people in the world, and take the broader view of humanity to take hold of the concept of peace.

The fruits of our country must be for all people here and we must export those concepts to others by example. We are very pleased that the government has asked advertising agencies to create promos about our country. In our great wish to be fair, we have been openly self-critical and forgotten to balance that with a little bit of self-praise.

Here in Oyster Bay we have a strong Spanish-speaking population gaining strength as it organizes the Hispanic Cultural Society. It's a great thing. Randy Daub, who has been working with his wife Carol on the CSAC Holiday Programs mentioned the donations from the Italian-American Club. The last wave of immigrants to Oyster Bay are actively helping the newest wave of immigrants.

That bodes well for this community. It's a great place, with a lot of great lessons to learn. We hope your holidays were wonderful and we hope next year is the best ever. Laura Bush commented on September 11th saying a few bad people did something that awoke many, many good people who have done marvelous things. That is a good way to look at this country, which we love so much!

-DFK