This weekend, all around these United States, people have gathered in groups large and small to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. We’re looking forward (at the time of this writing) to gathering with family in San Pedro for a hillside view of the 4th of July fireworks all over Los Angeles and Long Beach.
I appreciated something Darryl Tippens wrote this past week regarding this season of celebration: “We should do our best to avoid two extreme views of America being promoted today. One narrative…presents a pristine, fault-free grand narrative of an almost perfect America. The other narrative is equally false. It’s the story of a hopelessly flawed, irredeemable country.” Like every nation in the world, our history is complex and flawed but also includes much to celebrate.
A recent example includes our hosting of some 1.2 million World Cup visitors from around the world. The people of Lawrence, Kansas, adopted the visiting nation of Algeria by learning the chants of that national team, with local residents enthusiastically greeting Algerian travelers with the fan rallying cry “Viva l’Algérie!” Transit workers in sweltering Houston voluntarily handed out free ice-cold drinks to international fans on city buses and trains to prevent heat exhaustion. In Kansas City, local pit masters and residents guided Argentine fans, who are steeped in their own asado steak culture, to the glories and nuances of dry-rub barbecue in neighborhood BBQ joints.
Much of the goodness of life in the United States is not headline news. We see this goodness in the people of our communities, our fellow workers, and our friends. We see it in area parks, local churches, and Little League games. We see it in Vacation Bible Schools, food drives, and outdoor summer concerts. We see it in a fire department’s pancake breakfast, a Friday afternoon neighborhood soccer game, and a casserole delivered to a bereaved friend. I never cease to be amazed by the resilience, humor, acts of kindness, creativity, and faith of those around me.
A quote mistakenly attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville says, “America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will no longer be great.” This basic goodness, however flawed due to our human selfishness and sin, is what I pray we always continue to pursue in our great American experiment, always understanding that there is more work to do in pursuit of “a more perfect union.”
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