Thursday, July 4, 2013

4th of July

Dear Bono,

Today is my favorite day of the year.  I love the neighborhood parades, the barbecues, the fireworks.  It is a relaxing holiday, where people can do as much or as little as they like.  No hype and disappointment that people find with Christmas.  No, today is a great day.  The day we celebrate America.  A nation with its ups and downs, good, bad, ugly, and beautiful.  I missed it when I lived in Italy.  While I felt embarrassed on my train ride to Germany, where the Americans were loud, dirty, crude, and drunk while Germans slumbered peacefully in the opposite corner, I am glad to know I come from a land where people were raised to speak their minds.  A land where people dream.  A land with miles and miles of desert and miles and miles of concrete buildings.  A land where different people still struggle to get along.  A land where my ancestors found religious freedom, while later generations found religious oppression.  A land, that despite me spending all but a year of my life on it, I still haven't quite figured out.  America, thank you for continuing to intrigue me.

Sincerely,

JP

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