Go USA!

Today's post is of a little different tenor than most.

My boss is a federal judge, and today, he invited my co-clerk Caleb and me to accompany him to a naturalization ceremony. 198 people from 51 different countries became American citizens today in Utah.

Now, I cry fairly easily. Remember that movie Savannah Smiles, that was filmed in Liberty Park? I totally cry at the end when they take the little girl away. And The Wedding Singer, when Adam Sandler sings that song (the one that I have on this very blog) to Drew Barrymore on the airplane – I tear up every single time I watch that dang movie. Or Armageddon, when Bruce Willis gives his final Daddy Talk to Liv Tyler – I’m a bawling mess. Clearly, I can cry.

And today was no different.

After they stood and took the oath, a few people were able to speak for a minute about their thoughts on this momentous day. One woman told a story that really struck me. She was born in Beijing and when she was in college, back when the elder George Bush was in office, some American high school students came to visit them in China. Among the high schoolers was a fifteen year old girl and the Chinese college students asked her what she thought of the president. This American high school student said that while she knew a lot of people really didn’t like him, she did.

For a minute, I thought there was more to the story (and I'll bet you did too). But then I realized that was the story. This woman who grew up in China was incredulous that a 15-year-old had the ability, the confidence and the freedom to say exactly how she felt about her country’s leader. In hearing this woman’s account, I fell into the trap that probably many, many of us do – we take that kind of freedom so much for granted that it doesn’t even seem like a whole story, until we stop and think about it. That made me cry.

There was another man who sat directly in front of us who walked with crutches, not the temporary kind, but the permanent kind. He struggled mightily to stand unassisted for the entire oath (and it’s not short), so he could put his right hand in the air and fully participate in the ceremony. That made me cry.

Another man had his wife stand up at her seat in the balcony so he could tell her what a great wife she is and how grateful he is to be in this country with her. That made me cry.

There was a short video set to the song "I’m Proud to Be an American" that had a shot of row upon row of Navy guys in their dress whites, standing at attention on a ship. I thought of my dad and our growing-up years as a military family, and of Nate and Chandra (congrats you two!!) and how lucky I am to have such a patriotic heritage. That made me cry.

There’s more . . . lots more, but the thing I really want you to know today is that we are dang lucky. We are Americans and we should be proud.


These pictures are all from the Fourth of July parade this past summer, because nothing says 'America' quite like a small-town Fourth of July, complete with "Parade Float Entry #27 -- Giant Cow."