“Be prepared for a culture shock!” Is something you often hear before traveling abroad for the first time. It makes sense, you could be suddenly surrounded by a culture you’ve never seen before, a religion you’ve only ever heard about, or food that intimidates you. The other popular saying we’ve all heard is, “When in Rome!” Suggesting that we should jump right in and fully embrace the new lands we’re exploring.

For me, traveling is just par the course. Ever since I was six years old I’ve been privileged enough to see the world. From Thailand to Egypt, Hong Kong to Mexico, Honduras to Singapore, I’ve been truly blessed with an enriched life of travel. However, now that I’ve reached my 30s, my travels have left me with a cold hard truth I’ve been lectured on for over a decade and some change, that The United States of Americas “culture” is stolen, born from oppression, or is simply boring.

Our music like Jazz and Blues comes mostly from slavery and oppressed black people, our most famous foods are McDonalds and KFC, our modern architecture is flat, boring and cheap. The best part of American culture is our music, movies, and sports, which in a lot of cases further highlights the oppression of minorities and exploits them for entertainment. Bread and circuses to distract the masses from our real cultural output: war and consumerism.

Since World War II the United States has always been in some form of conflict whether it be in Korea, Vietnam, or the Middle East. It’s funded apartheids and completely taken advantage of the global south, stripping them of their recourses. All so we can have cheap consumer goods that aren’t even that cheap anymore. If you don’t have the latest thing, you’re left behind, so buy buy buy.

Two years ago I went to Japan and very recently came back from Portugal. Ironically enough, both of these countries were also incredibly imperialist at one point or another. Whether it was Japan invading neighboring countries like Korea or China, or the Portuguese hopping over the waters to Northern Africa. Yet there is something in both of those countries that is lacking in the United States. History. Despite the violence all of our nations have taken part in, the United States is only about 250 years old, if you count the years leading up to our independence you can go back even earlier than the founding of the first permanent settlement, Jamestown in 1607, to when Europeans started its slaughter of the Natives with Colombus in 1492. Yet Japan? It’s existed for tens of thousands of years. To suggest they were always imperialist would be unfair and untrue. Same goes for Portugal, they didn’t even start trading with other nations until the early 15 century.

The point is simple, in our short time being a nation we have almost strictly used might makes right politics in any circumstance. Our railways were built by Chinese slaves, our buildings by African slaves, we pillage the global south, committed genocide before and after our declaration of independence. When will this change? When we lose a war? Well, we didn’t exactly win Vietnam, Korea, or the more recent war with Iran, yet things don’t feel any different. It comes from within.

If you grow up in a more “liberal” or blue state, chances are you were taught the golden rule early, that you should treat others as you would want to be treated. This rule is great for children but needs to be expanded upon as adults. It’s not just about being polite and kind in our current society, it’s about understanding the brutal truth about our history and coming together to collectively rectify that brutality. It’s why African Americans rightfully demand reparations, it’s why protestors justifiably demand ceasing weapons sales to Israel, and why movements like “Land Back” demand Native Americans to, well, get their land back.

Throughout this piece, I’ve given list after list of reasons why we should look inwards and feel some sense of shame, however that isn’t my goal. The truth is this country has become a hub of the world. Nothing has shone a light on this quite as much as the World Cup.

Thanks to social media, we’ve all been blessed with video after video of people from all over the world coming here to spread good vibes and fun. The truth is, we have it all. The truth is, the strongest part of our culture could possibly be the most powerful of all time, the collection of the world’s cultures. The food, music, and beauty of all these nations are coming to enhance and make shape a new world for anyone. Abandoning the shallow ideas of puritanical nonsense that separates us all. Our enemies aren’t people across the world, its disease, climate change, greed, and the horrifying idea that a big rock from outer space could send us the way of the dinosaurs. We could all, easily, collectively, save ourselves from those fates if we can look beyond the pettiness of marginal difference.

There are plenty of Americans that are afraid of this. Personally, I don’t understand, I’ve never met a Muslim person who wanted to kill me, I’ve never met a Chinese person who wants to force me to become communist, I’ve never met a transgender person who wants to force me to be transgender. Yet I’ve met people from all over, from every religion, from many walks of life. They all ultimately want the same things we do, family, friends, and purpose. And maybe to kick back after a long day to watch a game of Football. Maybe it’s time to take the phrase, “land of the free and home of the brave” more literally.