This is an adapted excerpt from the June 21 episode of “Connect with Jacob Soboroff.”

America is about to turn 250 years old, and that big birthday has undoubtedly become overshadowed and overpoliticized.

But the good of this country and its story has never belonged solely to politicians, or parties, or whoever is shouting the loudest in a room. It has always been about the people: our culture, our hospitality, our joy, our humanity and our desire to hear past the noise that pits us against each other — even when there’s a lot of it.

Lately, I’ve witnessed many moments that remind me of just that, moments that show this country at its best. Like World Cup fans coming from overseas, traveling around the U.S. and hilariously — yet endearingly — sightseeing at Buc-ee’s and Bass Pro Shops, appreciating the more mundane parts of American life and being celebrated for it.

Nowhere was the love for good ol’ American hospitality felt more mutually than in Boston, where the Scots descended on the city for their first round of World Cup matches, filling local bars and even taking over Fenway Park with a rendition of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.

And I’m still being reminded of the sheer joy that is bursting out of New York City, where Knicks fans far and wide are celebrating the team’s historic NBA championship win.

During the Finals, the city of New York came together in a way I’ve never seen before, broadcasting the games outside stores, on street corners — anyone with a projector quickly became the local MVP, broadcasting games to the entire neighborhood from their fire escape.

It was a victory decades in the making. And this past Thursday, the city erupted again as those players, the hometown heroes, returned for a victory parade. It was an example of pure joy and community: fans, celebrities and politicians, all together in the crowd of more than 2 million people. Strangers hugged each other without a care in the world.

It felt different out there. As the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, put it to the massive crowds gathered at City Hall at the end of the parade: “So often when this city comes together it’s because we’re forced to by a moment of tragedy or adversity. What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy.”

There is a hunger in this country for connection. People want reasons to gather and to be part of something bigger than themselves.

I saw that last week in Chicago for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center. People traveled from all corners of this country to celebrate more than just the first Black president and his legacy. Along with acknowledging this country’s history, they were trying to overcome cynicism about its present and future. They were recognizing that while there is still work left to be done, it’s work we can do together.

As the great David Letterman told me, the crowd of thousands showcased the power of the “multiple of humanity.”

“You take one or two people and that’s great, and you start multiplying that and you get 10,000 people — that’s a force you can feel, it’s a force you can understand,” he said. “Boy, if today was not a day of understanding, there never will be one.”

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