Super You

I am not sure about my first Super Bowl experience. It was held on January 28, 2001, about a month after my arrival in the United States. I don’t remember anything about it, and even if I watched the game, I don’t remember anything about the game or the half-time show. My memory of the Super Bowl at that time is murky at best, but over the years I have come to really enjoy the aura, hype, energy, and excitement surrounding different aspects of the Super Bowl. It isn’t all about the game itself; it is about showcasing American culture.

A few years ago, I was in Ghana during a Super Bowl clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots. I lived in Philadelphia, so I rooted for the Eagles. I knew I wanted to watch the game, and so I went to an English pub broadcasting the game.

Interestingly, I found a gentleman from Massachusetts wearing a Patriots shirt who had come to the same place to watch. It was fun watching the game with him, but we also spent time explaining the game to other patrons in the pub who didn’t understand the game or the fuss about the Super Bowl. In a profound way, the gentleman and I became cultural ambassadors for our country.

For those of us who may not know, American culture sells. American culture transforms. American culture influences. American culture brings excitement. American culture celebrates excellence and talent. American culture brings out the best in the people of the world. The best of America is what the world needs right now, and the Super Bowl is one event that showcases the broadest, most creative, and lively culture, one that has broken down cultural barriers around the world.

There have been times when the cultural showcase has generated significant controversy, not for the best of American culture, but for the gross display of sexual images. But apart from that episode, all the half-time shows that I have watched have always been entertaining. And the joy is that they represent some of the best of American culture.

It was therefore surprising to hear that an alternative halftime show was being planned, one organized by those who argued that Bad Bunny, the music star for this year’s Super Bowl show, wasn’t the best representative of American culture. Worse still, they felt, was that he speaks Spanish and is from Puerto Rico.

I was therefore compelled to ask myself, "Isn’t Puerto Rico an American territory? And isn’t Spanish spoken by over half of Americans? So, what is the big issue here?"

I think the most important question is this: Who gets to decide who and what is representative of America, or of American culture? One of the important lessons I have learned since I emigrated to the United States is that America is a melting pot. We all come from different ethnicities, countries, backgrounds, religions, cultures, and what-have-you, but we lose some of that identity for the sake of our unique American identity. This unique American identity is dear to all of us, and we all hold together, call it the superstructure.

To an extent, the truth that seems to be missing from the melting pot idea is that you may lose your identity, but you don’t lose who you are. Indeed, much as we all embrace the superstructure, it doesn’t require that we lose the sub-structure: that is, the uniqueness of who we are. It doesn’t say you lose a second language, you lose your cultural food, your religious tradition, or ethnicity. You keep as many of the sub-structures as you can and drop those that conflict with the superstructure. But collectively, we all pay allegiance to the superstructure.

Here is an example: when kids arrive at school early in the morning and pledge allegiance to the flag, any individual cultural identity melts away. We all pledge allegiance. When we sing the national anthem, we all rise and sing. It doesn’t matter where you come from. We all rise and sing. These acts express our allegiance to the superstructure.

And so, the question shouldn’t be whether Bad Bunny sang in Spanish or English; the question should be, Was it beautiful? Was it entertaining? Did it represent the best of America?

To ask this question is to move the conversation from identity to beauty, a performance which is so captivating that we all can appreciate without looking through particular lenses. We may not have understood his words; I certainly did not. And we don’t have to understand a particular language in order to appreciate beauty. I was focused on the beautiful display, which conveyed an essential part of what the halftime show is about.

It is about you, the super you who has the capacity to see beauty for what it is and to celebrate that beauty, not because of where it comes from but simply because it is beautiful.

What is un-American about showing the other side of the coin? What is more American than the exposure of a subculture that is part of our fabric and invites us to further explore its harmless beauty?

I learned that death isn’t the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live. And the controversy over Bad Bunny’s selection and performance is indicative of the growing intolerance for parts of our sub-structure that don’t align with what some believe the superstructure should be. This is the kind of intolerance that is causing the greatest loss - and it is killing us.

There are three things that matter in life: truth, beauty, and music - but it is beauty that will save the world.

As we begin our Lenten journey, it is important to remember that the beauty of Lent lies in its ability to hold in tension the dust of the earth that we all are and the unconditional love of God that has been bestowed upon us.

The Super You isn’t so much about you being a Super Man or Super Woman; it is about the deepest recognition that You and I, unworthy as we are, have been set free, not only to be the best representatives of the gospel of Jesus Christ which teaches about tolerance, but that we can appreciate beauty for what is.

The Super You is a sacred recognition that sees and calls out things for what they are - after all, the halftime show has always been entertainment. And the last thing that should divide us is the beauty of entertainment.

This Lent, learn to be a champion of beauty. And remember, beauty doesn't divide, it draws us into sublime appreciation of every gift with which God has blessed us. 

Manny+