This is a portion of an editorial column that appeared in the Sept. 25 edition of the Washington Times:

“J. Michael Waller reports in this week’s Insight Magazine that, ‘A current CIA manager [says] that intelligence professionals are forced to attend sensitivity-training classes and do role-playing skits to conform to politically correct social themes.’ Another CIA official complains of spending ‘countless thousands of hours’ making ‘politically correct diversity quilts.'”

Thousands of hours making diversity quilts?ÿCIA personnel wasting time making quilts?ÿPolitical correctness has gone way too far.

And it’s not just in the CIA.ÿ Thousands of Americans are forced to attend workshops, seminars and encounter sessions to learn how we can all get along, why it’s important to understand someone else’s way of life or being open to diverse points of view.ÿ

What a sad commentary on just how far-reaching our political correctness crowd has permeated the culture that was once America.

You know, sometimes people just plain have a different opinion and it’s wrong.ÿTwo plus two does equal four, no matter how badly you might want it to equal five.ÿ

There are still bad people in this world who will do bad things.ÿUnderstanding why they did a bad thing won’t change the fact that it still happened.

Does it really matter why the terrorists crashed the planes into our buildings on Sept. 11? If we only understand their way of life, will that excuse their actions?ÿ

Hell no.

And if you are forced to attend one of these diversity seminars, won’t the fact that you have to be there only serve to fuel your resentment for whatever politically correct group is in style this month that you are supposed to learn to understand?

I received a calendar from one of the campus organizations just before classes began this fall, full of “important” dates to remember: Coming Out Day, National Diversity Awareness Month, blah blah blah blah blah.ÿ

I don’t see Veteran’s Day listed anywhere, not even on Nov. 11. And where is Flag Day?ÿI was surprised that Christmas was still listed, although I did see Kwanzaa listed there, too. And let’s not forget about Easter, what most will call spring break.

Easter and Christmas are holidays celebrating the birth and death of Christ, by the way.ÿYou may remember hearing stories about Christ once a week when you were growing up.

It was on that day you had to get up early, even though there was no school that day, and go to this big building for an hour or so.ÿThere was usually a man there dressed in a fancy bathrobe, telling stories about this man named Jesus Christ.

On Sept. 11, America was awakened from a restless slumber.

Since that day, most of us see very clearly the things that are really important, and can differentiate between those things and those which really don’t matter very much.

We are Americans.ÿWe have our differences.ÿExtolling those differences is such a waste of effort.ÿ

There is a distinct culture common to all of us as Americans, and that is what we should celebrate.

Those who celebrate the differences only serve to try to divide us, by pointing out our differences, and trying to make the rest of us feel guilty because we don’t celebrate those differences, too.

But our strength lies in our common bond: We are Americans – be proud of that.