Yesterday our friend Swaran became a citizen of the United States. He has been waiting for more than 10 years to become a citizen, and yesterday, along with 104 others representing 49 countries, he took his oath.
He filed papers, hired a lawyer, spent thousands of dollars, and many hundreds of hours of time to achieve this dream of citizenship.
He has told us horrible stories of police brutality, and corruption in India that we cannot even imagine.
It was an honor for me to witness the ceremony, and I took Sean with me. I don't think there was one person in the room more excited than Swaran to become a citizen of this country.
This Thanksgiving will be special. Thanksgiving will be his first truly American holiday as an American.
Swaran believes in working hard. He has told me, "money comes and goes, but we have to work hard always." He believes that when you have faith in God, and live according to the way God wants, you will succeed. He believes that being honest and righteous are principals to live by. He believes it is a man's duty to take care of his family, no matter what. While we all whine about the economy, he believes this is still the land of opportunity, and even in hard times we still have a good life. He readily admits that it costs a lot to live in this country, but he also says we don't realize how good we have it.
A lot of people complain about immigrants, I say we should learn by watching them. I feel lazy when I talk to Swaran and hear how many hours he works each day. He is willing to do whatever it takes to earn a living. In his country, he has a college degree. In ours, he drives a taxi.
"Marsha, you are so blessed to be born in this country," he says to me, "you peoples do not understand how easy you have it here."
My mother would have been so happy for him. She spent a lot of time contacting government officials to get answers for each step of the process for him. She was determined to help Swaran and his family have a better life. I wish she could have been there.
Congratulations Swaran, my fellow American!
P.S. He looks a bit crumpled because Sean had climbed all over him prior to this photo. I should have had him straighten his tie, but there were about 104 other people waiting to get this same shot.
2 comments:
Congratulations!! That's awesome! That is so true about how blessed we are to live here--and to be born here. Tanna's parents worked their asses off (and his Mom is still working full-time) to provide a better opportunity for their kids.
Tell him I said congrats!
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