Oath of Citizenship

When Alex stepped foot on US soil at Hartsfield Jackson Airport on Saturday, March 5, 2011 she automatically became a US citizen.  Pretty cool, huh?

However...because Alex was older that 14 when she entered the country the United States Customs and Immigration Service would not issue her a Certificate of Citizenship until she took the oath of citizenship.  Today was the day that Alex was assigned to recite her oath, along with 109 other people from a total of 45 countries.  It was definitely a long process, but pretty cool to be able to witness it.  Alex was not the only child there who had been adopted.  For these kids it was pretty much just a formality.  They were already citizens, but had no paperwork to prove it.  For the rest of the people in that room it must have been an amazing day.  Becoming a US citizen is a long and difficult process.  The people who worked so long and hard to obtain citizenship have my utmost respect.

There was one young man there, however, who apparently didn't get the memo that this was a pretty big deal.  I don't know how old he was or what his circumstances were, but he blew it big time.  He was seated in the ceremony room waiting to have his paperwork processed before the group recited the oath.  He had a baseball cap on.  One of the agents approached him and told him he needed to remove the cap.  He nodded as though he understood but made no effort to comply.  A second agent came over and repeated the request that he remove his cap.  Again, he nodded but did not comply.  At this point I thought he surely must not understand what they are asking him to do.  The second agent reported the situation to the lead agent who approached the young man and asked him to stand up so he could speak with him.  The young man stood and listened as the lead agent explained that the cap needed to be removed out of respect.  He was very calm and tried very hard to reason with this young man asking him if he understood what he needed to do.  The young man said he understood but wasn't going to remove the cap.  The agent told him he had no choice but to escort him from the building.  This person was an hour away from receiving his Certificate of Citizenship and he absolutely threw his chance away.  Over a cap.  What was he thinking?  People literally die trying to get into this country to have a better life and he had the opportunity in his hands and he acted like it was nothing.  All I can do is shake my head.

On a happier note, today should have been Alex' last day of school but she missed it due to the oath ceremony.  So yesterday was her last day of 8th grade.  I now have a rising Freshman!  And a rising 4th grader and a rising 2nd grader.  We are so excited for summer vacation to begin!  I hope I am able to hold on to this enthusiasm for the next nine weeks!