I think you would be surprised at how much anti-American backlash I have to entertain when I’m not in the U.S., my country of birth.

Just the other night, I had an earful from two young and intelligent Irish women who bashed America for everything under the sun. Nothing I could say or do would convince them that America isn’t everything wrong with the world.

On other occasions in my travels, I have had to explain why we re-elected George Bush, why we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, and why the U.S. military slaughters thousands and thousands of innocent people.

Of course I had no solid answers to those questions.

It’s not easy being an American abroad.

Unfortunately, things are only going to get worse for me and other Americans abroad now that George Zimmerman has been found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman adds to the ever-growing list of reasons why people hate America. For a country built on slavery, the Zimmerman verdict only adds to the notion that Americans are racists and bigots, not to mention hypocrites.

While I’m by no means a gung-ho, flag-waving American, I do think there are some very good things about my country, especially the religious freedom. At the same time, I can understand why non-Americans only ponder on the negative. Sometimes the injustice is so grave that it becomes easy to overlook the positive.

It’s inevitable that someone who doesn’t like the U.S. will ask me what I think about the Zimmerman verdict. What can I say? I guess I just have to hang my head in shame.