Working for the U.S. State Department in the diplomatic corps changed my life. Serving my country in cultures as varied as Saudi Arabia and Canada gave me a new perspective on this wonderful human community.

Anyone who has read my novels knows I have tried to incorporate these discoveries into my fiction.

Often the characters, like their creator, have little knowledge of foreign cultures before they leave the United States. They find, especially if they serve in a culture quite removed from their native one, that they make mistakes because of this cultural ignorance. I remember with embarrassment in looking back at how I sometimes showed up for meetings with my skirts shorter than they should have been for that particular culture.

Coming home from a year or so immersed in foreign happenings, I also wondered at the lack of interest my fellow Americans showed in the rest of the world. We were the premier leader of the free world, yet sometimes Americans seemed to have not the remotest interest in anything except mall shopping and eating.

I also think Americans tend to be unaware of the responsibility given them by their privileged position. Once you serve as a visa officer in a U.S. embassy and see the long lines of people who want to visit, study, do business, and, yes, will lie to get a visa to enter your country, you realize it will be a while before you take for granted the blessings given you.

You also understand that if Americans squander the opportunities given them to lead humanely and humbly, they will forever forfeit their privileged position.