I just picked up my sister and her family at the airport on their way back from a four-year stint serving overseas with the State Department. There were several families of service men and women at the airport, waiting for their loved ones to clear customs. I saw kids waving banners and balloons, wives and parents anxiously waiting for that sweet moment when the door swings open and the tears start flowing. It was such a joyful and universal moment. Coming off my sojurn in the Rockies — where I basked in the free exchange of ideas in such a beautiful, such a uniquely Americanishly beautiful place – I’m feeling really pro on my country right now and it’s for the same reason (and sometimes the only reason) everybody else secretly and/or openly loves America so much: because you get to say and think whatever the hell you want about America and she responds mostly graciously. Whenever I get fed up with some noxious societal force and I start pretend-threatening to break up with America, I always come back to her somehow. Cue the apple pie and baseball.
Happy July 4th!
