I stopped at the title of your post realizing that being in Columbia today is probably the reason I want to destroy something. Can a place really have that kind of effect on a person? Answer: this place can.
Let us not be deceived by phrases about ‘Man taking charge of his own destiny.’ All that can really happen is that some men will take charge of the destiny of others. . . . The more completely we are planned the more powerful they will be. - C.S. Lewis