By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Besides getting ready for our 250th birthday bash, we are smack dab in the middle of FIFA fever, the glorious, joyful response to America expressed by those invading from all over the world to watch and play what we call soccer here in the States, and everyone else calls “football.” Rather than having the games all in one city as is the case with the Olympics, the venues are spread out from coast to coast, Canada and Mexico. And the viral videos showing people straight up saying, “I feel like I have been lied to about America all my life” are more than telling.
When I write, I try really hard to imagine what someone has gone through or is currently going through, and see things from their perspective. So, using that formula, it occurs to me that soccer fans that get their news from outlets that range from BBC to Al-Jazeera went through some consternation about coming here in the first place to see their favorite teams play. “Will I get mugged?” “Will I get killed?” “Will I get raped?” “Will I be hated because my skin is a different color?” I would think on some level that they got their affairs in order before they got on the plane, kissed their families good-bye like they were going off to war, and perhaps prayed for the first time in a long time that they would return home safely.
And then, the shock and awe of the true American spirit is literally blowing their minds as they travel to different cities for different matches and record and post their experiences. Who knew that being able to shoot indoors at a Pro Bass Shop would be such a big deal? How about the Aussie who was on a Florida beach and was so impressed that all he could say was, “This is insane” (the context being a positive one) as he took a selfie vid of the beach behind him.
Here in Athens, we zip by Buc-ee’s, or we stop, depending on our mood, and we really have no idea how remarkable that chain of stores actually is. A Scot says through his brogue, “Buc-ee’s is America in a box; a very, very large box.” The looks and sounds of delicious delight as people sample all kinds of food that they’ve never heard of. I gotta tell ya’, I have never waxed nearly euphoric over mac-n-cheese.
Grown men oohing and ahhing over the size of 18-wheeler trucks, remind me of little boys that want my husband, an over-the-road truck driver to pull the air horn as he goes barreling by. Whole groups of fans in a pub in Boston singing John Denver’s Country Road. That is dear enough, but what put a lump in my throat was also listening to them singing “The Star Spangled Banner” from start to finish.
The friendship, the welcome, the hospitality, and not just in the South, has made an immeasurable impact, and the truth of who we were made to be has been on global display with no editorial team present to sully or stop it.
“I feel like I have been lied to about America all my life.” Yes, yes you have. And may those responsible take note.
