After taking photos of the hotel, he noted that all of the people had the same expression: disgust.

My husband and I sighed. Our son wasn't so innocent anymore.

Had we been wrong not to teach him about the exclusionary nature of the "real world"? I didn't want to lose the kind, gifted boy with an easy smile and ready sense of humor who loved Gandhi as a 6-year-old. But I also didn't want him to be barred from the world of influence because he was different.

My dreams seemed dashed. Anger rose in me from two fronts.

First, would my children be barred from being great men because we couldn't afford an Ivy League education?

Second, if these Washington insiders looked down on us in our Wal-Mart clothes, how could they ever relate to the Wal-Mart lives of most Americans? .