I was always the kid on scholarship, I was a soloist with my company, I'd been working with the symphony since I was 14.
Based on the people l've spoken to, I think the impression is: Is America safer from Al Qaeda? Yes. Is America weaker as a nation because we have overspent and over-focused on Al Qaeda? Yes. I think that would be the conclusion that people seem to have come to and that I tend to agree with.
If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.