We are a few weeks now into the World Cup games happening across America and all of the continent, which means we are also a few weeks into watching stories and personal accounts of European tourists fall in love with America.
What started as some innocent tweets about loving Taco Bell (trust me, I relate) and Waffle House, has turned into a cultural phenomenon that can teach us real lessons as we approach the 250th birthday of this great nation. Recent polling has continued to show that love of country and patriotism are falling. Belief in the American Dream is dwindling quickly.
But if you follow these accounts of soccer fans from around the world, you’d see a very different portrayal of America than what the polling suggests.
You’d find stories of strangers being kind.
You’d find stories of embracing innovation.
You’d find stories of a spirit that exists nowhere else on Earth.
You’d find stories of what makes America.
And that is worth celebrating and learning from.
Take the viral video of a French supporter who wandered into a random diner in Houston and was brought a free slice of pie by the table next to him. He posted about it, bewildered, asking his followers if this was just “an American thing.” A Dutch family stopped on the side of the road in Tennessee got three different offers of help within ten minutes. A group of German fans who got lost in Atlanta ended up at a cookout they hadn’t been invited to, and left four hours later with full stomachs and new friends.
These are not outlier stories. They are showing up in the feeds of millions of people every day, and they are changing how the world sees us. More importantly, they should be changing how we see ourselves, because these stories are the real America.
When polling asks Americans whether they believe in the American Dream, people are processing years of headlines, political division, and noise. The question lands heavy. But these tourists finding friendship, freedom and food at every turn are experiencing something different. They are experiencing America at its realest and its finest.
These stories are not fake or figments of the tourists imaginations. Sadly, we have just spent so much time absorbing the fake story of a broken country that many of us forgot to notice and celebrate the real America.
The 250th birthday of this nation is a chance to look around and take stock of what we actually have. A country the is free, and a people who help one another.
And that is always worth celebrating.
Happy 250th Birthday, America.
