Brief Ode to America...

I met this really cool guy at a Harvard gathering for Cape Town alums the other night. (Side note: Father Terry--my supervisor at the Cathedral and whom you may remember, children, as the man who did *not* introduce me to Desmond Tutu last summer--had asked what I was doing this weekend and I said "I'm going to a Harvard alum gathering at the Mount Nelson hotel." He: "Oh, what are you all Obama supporters or something? What brings you all together?" Me, staring blankly: "Uh, the fact that we all went to Harvard." He: "But that place is posh! Seriously posh!" Me: "OK, you know what? I do own clothes that are not cargo pants and hoodies. I can dress up and mingle with the hoi polloi, thanks so much.") Anyway, back to Cool Guy: he is originally from Nigeria and came to the US at 8 years old speaking no English. Did his undergrad at Princeton, got his MBA at Harvard, and is now working at establishing a presence for JP Morgan here.

Now I know America is imperfect, gap between the haves and have-nots, unequal education, etc etc. None of it minor, none of it to be sneered at, and we have a lot of work to do as we strive toward that "more perfect union" part of the Constitution. But we are still the place where a bright 8-year-old kid who speaks only Ibo can, 10 years later, go to Princeton. And we deserve to feel a little bit good about that.