A Love Letter to America

America is turning 250 — and I left her almost thirty years ago.

From ten thousand miles away, on the banks of the Ganga, I’ve learned something about loving a country the way you love a person: it means telling the truth about her, even the hard truths. Especially the hard truths.

In this reflection for America’s 250th birthday, I share what distance has taught me about her light and her shadow — about the ordinary courage of people like Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks, about why criticism can be the deepest form of love, about the division that’s pulling us apart, and about the one thing that has always made America beautiful. (Hint: it isn’t the rolling hills.)

We are human beings first, Americans second, and everything else after that. If we can remember that, the next 250 years could be her greatest gift to the world yet. Watch, reflect, and share this with someone who sees the world differently than you do.