OPINION — For some, America’s 250th birthday is a chance to show their patriotism, a testament to our Founding Fathers’ wisdom, the Constitution and a democratic experiment that has persevered for more than 2 1/2 centuries. Others see it as a reckoning of unmet promises, broken covenants and one more attempt to obscure our nation’s dark history of genocide, oppression and racism.
I would encourage celebrating the nation’s semi-quincentennial by cultivating the art of being curious. While there are many who want to link the nation’s birthday with partisan messaging and ideological concepts such as American Exceptionalism or the premise that our nation has fundamentally failed to fulfill its fundamental principles, I recommend that Americans explore what the nation means to them in a personal and humanistic manner.
Why not make it a point to explore a different part of America and chat with somebody with a vastly different background, world view and values?
