We attended a “Citizenship” party this past weekend — a friend became a US Citizen, and a number of people got together to celebrate.
As big days go, I suspect this must be one of the biggest for these new citizens — they become eligible to serve on a jury, run for office, vote and lots of other things we take for granted. Cathy was born in Ireland and had to become a US Citizen through a long process called naturalization. First, a person must be at least eighteen years old and must have been a legal resident for at least five years — display good moral character and loyalty to the United States. To become a citizen, people must be able to read, write and speak English, have knowledge and understanding of United States history and government and believe in the US Constitution — and be willing to take an oath of loyalty to the United States. If, and only if, they meet these requirements can they submit an application for citizenship. Then they must take an exam to prove they meet the conditions of becoming a citizen. Finally, they take an oath of allegiance in court. And then they’re Americans — Americans by choice.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, or difficulty.” I’d bet that naturalized citizens believe that.
Most of us inherited US Citizenship — we didn’t earn it. We have been bequeathed our opportunities and freedom by the deeds, commitments and spilled blood of Americans who came before us. But America is not and never will be a finished project. We have been handed a work in progress that continues evolve in the direction we choose. There is a sense — I think more so among the younger generation, that being an American Citizen is no big deal, with no obligation attached to it.
Most of us “natural born” citizens take our government for granted. If you’ve traveled extensively or lived abroad, you realize how wonderful our government really is. Certainly graft and corruption occurs, but it doesn’t happen on the scale you see in other countries. Government bribes are part of every day business in many, many countries. We have consistent, peaceful transfer of power every few of years — we don’t have coups in the US. How many countries can say that? The US has a well tested, democratic process where power is peacefully handed over to newly elected officials. This has happened consistently over the course of our 200-plus year history.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to a lot, if not most, places in the world and once you’re out of the country for any extended period of time, you realize all the “stupid” little things that you miss that all of us take for granted every day. We have running water — hot running water, electricity, toilet paper and bathrooms, sidewalks, paved roads, cars, a bed to sleep in, a room, house or space to call our own, public schools, television and freedom — freedom of choice, whether it be in the voting booth or choosing a restaurant or a pair of shoes….
If I want to write this blog, all I have to do is log in, write what’s on my mind and hit the publish button. and you can open it and read it any time you wish — just like you can thousands of other things on the Internet. But that’s a different story in many countries —if I write something the government doesn’t agree with, it’s blocked and you can’t read it. Just another of the many freedoms we take for granted.
So as I think about all these things I’m pretty sure most of us “natural born” citizens don’t fully appreciate what it means to be an American Citizen. It means many things, but the bottom line is that we are all responsible for watching over and protecting our own democracy — making it work for all of us and passing it along to our children better than we inherited it. I think that I accept that responsibility — I’m sure our new citizen Cathy does.
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