This is exactly why joining the US Army at age 18 was so good for me. I ended up in Germany, traveled to Spain and Holland and met a lot of different types of people along the way. Went through France on trains, etc. If none of that ever happened I would most likely still be talking like Ken Curtis who played Festus on Gunsmoke. Self taught in many things that I do, I have been my own attorney and even did my own divorce once.

I'd have to agree with his assessment. It was my travels around Asia in 1979, when I was 16 and turned 17 on that trip, which caused a wedge to insert itself into my thoughts which started to separate my thinking from my conservative religious and bigoted upbringing. It was the first time I was separated for an extended period without the influence of my parent's religion (Mormon). The previous year, my age group was supposed to read the old testament, which I did, and that also created massive doubts, as I noticed the similarities to the myths we were reading in high school at the same time. Had I remained insulated and sheltered, I'd have likely remained just as miserable as most of my childhood was. The misery, I now realize, was the result of a great deal of cognitive dissonance due to the religion I was raised in.