I was struck by a thought as I was watching this year's Boston Pops fireworks display from the banks of the Charles. After spending so much time overseas, I feel a whole new appreciation for my home country. Despite meeting people from all over the world and immersing myself in fantastic, wild new cultures, I am deep down proud to be an American. We take many freedoms for granted that others are still giving their lives to taste for the first time. We can say what we want, go where we want, and when we come home fall right back into step with the rest of the great, whirring machine. We can follow our ambition. We love a frontier. It's the American way.
My neighbor, meanwhile, was struck by something else while watching the fireworks: a piece of burnt firework. Her first reaction was to clutch her bruised head and threaten lawsuits left, right, and center. I guess, that's another American way.
Happy Independence Day!
Sunset from my vantage point of the Boston fireworks. View is of Cambridge/MIT across from the Boston esplanade.
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