I’m feeling very patriotic right now. It’s all about America’s 250th and the World Cup.
First of all, it’s our birthday week. Our 250th. That’s a reason to party. To celebrate our glorious country.
I know, I know. We have problems… lots of problems. Still, we are better off than most places. Maybe all other places.
I have loved watching the World Cup fans coming to America. Downing Ranch dressing, visiting Buc-ees, experiencing Wal-Mart. One European guy called Wal-Mart the biggest tourist attraction he has ever seen. “It’s like a museum.” Hahaha. Wal-Mart. We sure do take things for granted, don’t we?
The Tartan Army apparently drank Boston dry. Then, went to Miami and sweated it out.
It turns out they loved being here and experiencing our great country.
I’m told that wars have stopped for the World Cup. It does appear to be a great uniter.
As much as the world appears to love America, I think we are happy to have the world here. It’s made me appreciate our great land.
The New York Times has devoted its entire Sunday Opinion section to America’s birthday. Tom Friedman writes about the meaning of what he calls “our unofficial anthem” “America the Beautiful.”
Maureen Dowd writes about fairness. She talks about what she learned from her parents and wishes for that same America again. In all, 16 reasons why our national experiment endures.
Bill Maher weighed in on his Friday night HBO show “Real Time.”
In his New Rules segment, Bill talked about how all these World Cup fans are “reminding us, just when we needed it, on our big 250 birthday, that actually, this place is kind of awesome.”
My friend Charley Belcher and I talked about all of this in the newsroom the other day. How these “out-of-towners” are making us appreciate what we have and what we are.
During his great speech in Berlin in 1963, President John F. Kennedy said something profound. It’s known as the “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech or “I am a Berliner.” Kennedy was speaking near the Berlin Wall. It had been built to keep the East Berliners from crossing over into the freedom of West Berlin.
JFK said this:
“Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep people in, to prevent them from leaving us.”
And there it is. We may put up walls to keep people out of America, but they still want to come here. They want to see, as President Ronald Reagan called it that “shining city on a hill.” I do love that quote.
So here we are. America at 250. It’s going to be quite the party this week. Happy birthday to us! “From sea to shining sea.”