America, I Love You
Had to get the posting out before I could properly pay attention to the beautiful video that Mrs. M posted below, because I had a feeling that it would touch something deep inside of me.
And it did.
And I’ll probably be rambling a lot from this point onwards. If I do, forgive me, but I want to get it all out.
I could start off by saying that the day I became an American, like Mr. Boye, was the happiest day in my life. That wouldn’t be true. The two happiest days in my life were when my wife said “I do” and the day when I first held my baby boys in my arms. The Oath will have to take third place there, but it’s a close third. A very, very close third. Or second, as I’m not entirely sure which one of the first two is the first.
What’s funny, depending on how you define the word “funny”, is that I was pretty much not expecting it to be much. It was a mere “formality”, after all. I already lived here, I had a family here, I just needed to finish the paperwork and, besides, I’d gone through all of the real emotional work long before that day, back when I had to make the decision whether to stay or not.
That wasn’t easy. It was easy in the sense that I knew that I couldn’t live without the lovely lady who was to become my wife, but it wasn’t easy at all in the sense that I would have to cut the cord that bound me to everything that I knew because you can’t be in two places at once. It wasn’t easy because I knew that I’d geographically cut myself off from everybody I’d always known and loved, and it wasn’t easy because I knew, having always been the sort of chap that follows every single damn thought to its logical conclusion, that it could only lead to one thing eventually, which is that I would have to renounce my citizenship and allegiance and swear an unbreakable Oath to a new nation, come what may.
Because you can’t serve two masters and you can’t call a place “home” unless you make it your home, 100%.
All of that I wrestled with for a long time until I reached the conclusion that it was what was meant to be, long before the actual ceremony.
I knew, eventually, that this is where I belonged, and I knew what I had to do, tough as that decision was. Tough not because I didn’t want to be an American, I got chills down my spine every time I heard The Star Spangled Banner and I believed already in everything that our Founding Fathers stood for, but because it involved an Oath. And if there is one thing that makes a Viking stop and think, it’s an Oath. You cannot break it without forfeiting your honor, and your honor is all that separates you from a worm.
But I had that down. Or so I thought.
Until that day when I and a lot of other new Americans were assembled in that room and was asked to raise my right hand. I wasn’t struck by doubts, not at all, I knew what it was that I had to do because I’d already decided on it, but I was struck by the immensity of it. And I teared up like a damn baby. A very happy baby. And I took the Oath, tied my life and my sacred honor to all that America stands for and I was happy about it, but I was surprised at how emotional I was about it.
So I know how Mr. Boye felt, and I am happy to have him as a fellow citizen.
I am, always have been, always will be a Viking, fiercely proud of my people’s history and proud culture, the country of my birth will always be one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but I’m an American Viking now.
My fondest hope is that I may impart some of my cultural virtues on this great melting pot of all that is good in humanity, but I am an American first and foremost and everything else second.
And I will fight and die, if necessary, for the Constitution that I swore an Oath to uphold against all enemies, foreign and domestic, because that is our way.
And I will always tear up when I see our flag flying or hear our national anthem play.
I love this nation and I will not watch it go to Hell.
And it won’t ever, as long as we have men like Mr. Boye among us.
Thatisall.
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4 Comments »
I know how you feel, bro. I was quite a bit younger when I took the oath – a sophomore in high school – and I had no ceremony. I raised my hand in a judge’s office in Philadelphia. I guess it’s because I was a minor.
But despite all this, I knew I had to join the military and serve my country. I had to thank America somehow for affording me the opportunities I never would have had in the USSR. I remembered being abused back there as a kid with the funny, Jewish last name, and remembered I would have had no opportunities to achieve and succeed there.
So yeah, I tear up when I hear the National Anthem being played. I’m proud of my service to this country. I hate Russia with all my heart and soul, and unlike you, I will NEVER identify with my supposed heritage. I love this country above all (except for my family, including my drooling, furry St. Bernard), and even though I didn’t have a ceremony of my own, I have covered at least one as 29th ID PAO that made me weep!
LC Nicki the Resident Misanthropic Bitch recently posted..The entitlement state vs. America
I appreciate your sentiments, Your Awesomeness. I’m Viking on one side and Chiricahua Apache on the other. Interesting genetic mix, especially at parties serving alcohol. But I took oaths, as well, with my enlistment, commissioning, and every time I was promoted. And no one has ever absolved me of those oaths. And in my blood and in my soul I know that they are more important to me than my life. It was said that a samurai would never have to “promise”; if he said he would do something, the only thing that would stop him from doing it was his death. His word was enough for him. I like to believe I have that steel in my soul, as well.
Mark12A @ #:
What an interesting contrast you bring up. A samurai would say he’d do something, and he was honor bound to do it. In the 19th and early 20th century of America, two people would shake hands on a deal, and it was a DEAL. (In the words of our super-dooper intelligent vice-president, it was a “big fucking deal”.) For a short time later, a promise was as good as a written document. Now, we have an elected pResident you couldn’t believe if he swore on a stack of Bibles, then on a stack of Korans. His word means nothing. If you shake his hand on a deal, you have to count your fingers to see if he stole some of them, then check your pocket to see if he stole your wallet. He apparently thinks contracts are for suckers, as he continuously ignores the greatest and most basic contract ever written, our Constitution. And, as for his word being his bond, just aske the workers at the GM plant in Janesville, WI, how much his word is worth. Hell, ask the voters of Illinois! Didn’t he swear he would finish his term in the Senate that they elected him to, before he ran for another office?
Very moving video.
Sire, you and all other “late” arrivals are so very appreciated and embraced. Keep up the good work.
Now back to the hilarity of the demo-rats on parade.