In the reading assigned for Monday from Takaki, I came across a quote that I thought was worth some extra thought. On page 404 in the book it gives a quote by Helen Murao after the internment camps had began to get shut down. She said "We took a bus to the railroad siding and then stopped somewhere to transfer, and I went in and bought a Coke, a nickel Coke. It wasn't the Coke, but what it represented - that I was free to buy it, that feeling was so intense." This quote, especially the last sentence, made me stop and think. How could the simple, and everyday act for most Americans today, of buying a Coke be described by "that feeling was so intense"? If I were to list the freedoms we have in America, I think it would contain things more like freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, and the freedom to vote for our government leaders. I guess having the freedom to buy the things we want isn't something that I usually think of when it comes to all we are blessed with in the United States. It is remarkable how having your rights stripped away in something such as an internment camp, can cause a person to realize the extraordinary implications of ordinary acts.