Good Friday

Good Friday already? Hmm. Seems like it was just St. Patty's Day--how time flies! (Also seems like it was just Spring but the snow doesn't want to give it up. Enough already!)

The hightlight of my week was attending a naturalization ceremony at the Ford Museum. My office helps coordinate and run these things, along with the INS. I got to stand in for a staff member who could not attend. (I've tried to go to this two previous times, but the first time I got sick and missed work, and the second time was when I got in my wreck on 131 and totaled my car.) So, as you can imagine, I was not overjoyed at the thought of trying again!

But it all worked out, and I have to say it was a very inspiring experience. I've always been into the whole civic patriotism thing. How nice to see 90 people from 35 countries so excited at becoming citizens of our country. I met and chatted with the director of the Detroit INS office who himself immigrated to the US as a young boy. He was very pleasant, as were the other officers (I guess I had in my head that most INS people were stiff jerks). These guys were friendly and pleasant with the people, as it should be. Some people brought several people with them, a few had none, which was kind of sad given such an important milestone in their lives.

I asked the INS director just how long it would've taken these people to get to this point and he said at least 5 years. That's how long it takes from the time you get your green card (3 years if you marry a citizen.) But getting the green card can take much longer and is a much more difficult process. I was surprised to learn that every year the U.S. gives away 50,000 green cards for free through an online lottery that is available worldwide. It is meant to gain even more diversity for our country and focus on smaller countries that don't normally have many immigrants. Funny how we never hear about this sort of thing. I'm all for legal immigration. Illegal? Not so much. I know it is a difficult position for millions of people, but rules are rules.

Anyway, the ceremony was great and definitely had me tear up at a few points. Some people could barely speak English yet were so eager to shake all of our hands and say "thank you" with smiles that stretched across the room and back again. Good for them. The boys from Sudan, some of whom had obvious scars from serious wounds, the men and women from Bosnia, the man from "the little island in the sun-Jamaica" (I wonder if he's regretting being here given today's weather??) It occurred to me during the ceremony that it would be nice if everyone could witness this at least once and remember what it is all about to be an American, even in a bad economy. At least we don't have bombs going off around us at any moment. Now if we can just do something about that weather...