The Super Bowl on Sunday had many things to offer. Patriot’s amazing comeback spirit and mental toughness, Falcons’s display of skill and will early on, nachos, soft drinks, excitement, emotions, cheering crowds, ads, parties, music and the art of entertainment, all combined to produce a unique American sporting flavor – a celebration of competition.
Tom Brady became the only quarterback to win five titles, as he saw New England achieve the stunning victory after trailing Atlanta by 25 points.
Brady’s electrifying performance in Patriots come-from-behind win over Atlanta Falcons came in his seventh record Super Bowl.
But the victory margin of 34-28 in the only overtime Super Bowl game would never be able to tell the story of scintillating speed and spirit that animated Houston’s NRG stadium. Though there were a lot of missteps that Falcons made, as also acknowledged by highly talented Matt Ryan, the game marked Patriot’s astonishing run of consistency.
The Super Bowl had as much exhilaration off the field as on it. Midway through the game, it was Lady Gaga who matched the physical skills and mental games of the players with her lively performance. Her sophistication unmistakably referred to another bowl – America’s unique Salad Bowl of distinct cultures woven within one wholesome fabric of oneness.
This was no plain moment for anyone. In a much larger context, the game coincided with America’s own moment of truth – a nation trying to stay atop in an age of never-ending military conflicts, diplomatic fights, political polarization and the overriding issue at hand – a fiery debate on dealing with the future of immigration, security challenges. The odds revolve around nothing less than human ability to navigate stakes for all sides across the social and political spectrum.
Discarding her customary practice of making strong political statements with her lively performances, the Grammy winner singer chose to use her artistic halftime appearance with subtle messaging – of inclusiveness amid divisive debate on immigration. The message was too loud to be missed on anyone : “God Bless America” and “This Land Is Your Land” topped by the Pledge of Allegiance: “One Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Conflating sport and politics is not a good idea and players should not be unnecessarily dragged into controversies. But the Super Bowl, as an American achievement, constructively evokes another bowl, the Salad Bowl. The term is being frequently used in place of the melting pot of cultures.
As Americans contend with the question ensuring homeland security, they are also conscious of keeping the country’s tradition of largess and pluralism. To be sure there voices on both sides of the debate that want maximal results.
Over the last two decades, the United States leadership has depended as much on its traditional pillars of power as on the new planks of economic progress like the information technology, scientific research and a healthy competition in institutions of higher learning.
The edge that America gets from immigrants is not hard to fathom, as acknowledged by former CIA Director David Petraeus at a Capitol Hill hearing. Only last year, six of the seven US winner of Nobel Prize winners were immigrants. In 2015, immigrants contributed around $ two trillion to America’s economy. Having been a successful businessman before his election, President Donald Trump is well aware of the advantages that new immigrants in skilled categories bring to the United States. The immigrants, who call America their home and raise their children with hard-earned money, really love the country – becoming a part of the American spirit.
The inflow of the highly skilled workforce has cultural ramifications. Some call it a threat to Western or European civilization or way of life. Others see the process of assimilation and integrations as being to America’s great advantage. perfectly
Concurrently, there are perfectly understandable concerns over economic issues like loss of jobs for local communities and overlooking socioeconomic problems of inner cities, small towns and rural America. On the other hand, ISIS terrorism is a clear threat, and counterterrorism is an ever evolving work that requires help from people of different backgrounds both at home and abroad.
Yet, it is a reality that America has become a Salad Bowl of cultures and creativity – an unrivaled achievement – where people from different backgrounds converge to take innovation, entrepreneurship and invention to unprecedented new levels of development that benefits all Americans. The brave new word for American tolerance being accepted in discourse is Salad Bowl, where different cultures coexist distinctly but as parts of the whole called the United States.
The challenge at the moment seems to be how to balance terrorism concerns with maintaining the United States’ leadership as a place that is inclusive and pluralist with a cutting edge superiority over its competitors to the benefits of all Americans.
