All About You FRIDAY – They Lied to Us

Football supporters together at stadium during a match. Friends cheering and watching soccer match together at stadium. International and multiracial group with multicolored t-shirts having fun.

From the first kick on June 11, World Cup Soccer has been religion at our home. I never paid much attention to it before, but for my partner hailing from England, having this great tournament come to home turf has been a diversion of epic proportion.

I bought a wall chart of the World Cup bracket complete with stickers of the competing countries. She reserves tables at our local sports bar just so we can watch England and USA games on a big screen and scream at the top of our lungs with other fans. And the other night, I found tears welling up in my eyes as I belted out with a hundred other people, “Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong!” the adopted theme song of Team USA as they celebrated a hard fought 2-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But what I have enjoyed the most is watching the reaction of fans from around the world as they set foot on American soil. Hosting the World Cup here was viewed as a mistake by many. They didn’t think we would be capable of hosting one of greatest tournaments of all time. They pictured a country that had fallen into disarray, with unsafe cities and a gun on every corner. They pictured cold-hearted, arrogant Americans who were against the world.

“We owe you an apology,” many YouTube videos begin. “We’ve been lied to.”

Instead, fans were met with clean cities and welcoming hosts. Strangers bought people dinner and offered hospitality of all kinds. Law enforcement danced in the streets with fans from other countries. They discovered the flavors of the American cuisine and were in awe of our big box stores. They found beauty in our national parks and beaches. They experienced abundance, kindness and happiness in the land of the free.

And ranch dressing got a big boost. Evidently, it is being smuggled in bags as a favorite take-home souvenir. The TSA had to issue a warning that if a bottle of ranch dressing was found in a bag, it would be confiscated as it exceeded the 4 oz. limit on liquids. American ingenuity kicked into high gear and Kraft manufactured a TSA friendly 4 oz bottle of ranch dressing for fans to take home.

“Look,” one man said, “There is a woman walking alone with jewelry and a designer purse and nobody is bothering her!”

“They told us air-conditioning was bad and we should just open windows and use fans,” another said. “That is wrong! I love air conditioning!”

“Americans are the kindest people we’ve ever met!”

“What are these free refills?! It’s like she was a soda god, replacing my empty glass with a full one.”

“Somehow, freedom instills a hope in the American people that isn’t seen anywhere else.”

We live in interesting times where propaganda so easily shapes our world view. It seamlessly seeps into our news as we are inundated with images and headlines that algorithms decide we should click on. What results is a very narrow view of the world and the people in it. It can make us depressed and angry, stressed and hopeless. It has turned friends into enemies and it has divided us.

But the World Cup has turned on the light and we are experiencing the biggest culture shock of 2026. This should be a lesson for us all.

If you start forming an opinion about someone from something you’ve heard, maybe you should go and check it out for yourself. See the country. Meet the people. Talk to the person. Experience whatever it is first hand. And then form your own opinion and spread THAT news around the world.

We don’t advance as a society by jumping on bandwagons and spreading rumors. And though we are all different, we are more alike than you think.

It’s been a long week. Don’t forget to celebrate. On the eve of the 250th birthday of this great country, celebrate the people, celebrate our blessings. Celebrate our freedom.

Until next time…