My Consequential Country

Traveling the world as a United States citizen is a strange burden to bear

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

The bartender introduced himself to me as Junior while he prepared my candy-colored, non-alcoholic drink. “And you?” he asked. He stood at a medium height, wore tan skin beneath a cocktail shirt that was ill-suited to the Peruvian desert climate, and had a kindly face that bordered on effeminate.

“I’m Ben,” I replied before he sh…