Matt: USA 250

This auspicious 250th Independence Day, I find myself thinking of what Om wrote in iAMerican when he became a US citizen in 2013.

On a globe, America is a landmass, a country. In an immigrant’s heart it is a belief that future is almost always better. It may not be perfect and it is certainly not equal, but it still is one of a kind — the only place where an absolute stranger with a funny name and a funny accent with no friends or contacts can show up, work hard and actually get to do what he was destined to do. […]

In most places in the world, outsiders like me don’t have that chance. That simple truth is what makes America so special. A chance – to be somebody even if you are nobody. America is a state of mind and I have opted-in!

I feel lucky to have been born here, and if I hadn’t been, I think I would have gotten here as fast as I could. I’m grateful to the public schools that educated me, the teachers who pushed me, the internet that freed my mind, and the culture of risk and innovation in technology that invested a million dollars in a 21-year-old dropout kid trying to build a company around (but not replacing) an Open Source project.

It’s not unimaginable that these things could have happened someplace else, but it would have been a long shot.

On the lighter side, SNL’s Washington’s Dream skit is one of their best ever, Google has a pretty funny commercial reimagining the Declaration being written, and another famous Matthew (McConaughey) gives a great 2-minute speech. “We need skeptics. Yes, we do. We do not need cynics. One cares enough to question, which we should, and the other one’s already quit.”