What Is America To Me?
On August 2013, I attended what I expected would be a meaningful but pedantic event. What I didn’t expect was the overwhelming emotion I felt at my naturalization ceremony. Sure I was excited, and had a fabulous celebration planned afterwards, but I never thought that I would stand with my hand in the air, looking at the American flag, tears streaming down my face as I was sworn in as a United States Citizen. Well, I was WRONG, I cried, hard.
I’m a self-analyst so I really wanted to figure out why the hell I was crying when this was a joyful, fulfilling moment. I figured it out pretty quickly. In a room with 150 people, we were called by country to stand and pledge allegiance. They called FORTY SEVEN different countries, in alphabetical order. As the tension built with every country name, I waited patiently for the letter “I”, I looked around at these people with me, they were all so different, different skin, different clothes, different style but we were all there together for one singular reason, we ALL wanted to be Americans. I thought about the millions of people over the last 240 years who came here for this exact reason. When we got to Ireland, I stood and I wept. I thought of the millions of Irish who fled famine and war for a life in the Free World, people who just wanted to live a good life, work hard, feed their children and worship whomever they wanted. Many of these people and their dreams died in the Atlantic ocean. I suddenly felt so lucky, so grateful and I kept on crying. And now I’m crying again just writing this.
I remember my Dad sitting on the rocky beach with me as a little girl in County Cork looking out at the ocean and saying, “if you keep swimming you’ll get to America.”
We visited America for the first time when I was 12 years old and I came back thinking, someday I’ll live there. For me, freedom was just in the air here. I grew up in a town where everyone looked the same, everyone believed in the same thing. I wanted to be in a place where you could be different. Now, I’m not that different and I didn’t NEED to immigrate to save my life or escape persecution, I just wanted to be an a place that allowed you to be you. I wanted to be in America, and I even sang the song from West Side Story with an awesomely bad Puerto Rican accent!
Here I am in America, living the ultimate American dream, a beautiful home, a loving husband from an entirely different background (who the Irish Catholic Church would NOT let me marry by the way), 2 divine Irish-American children and a wonderful career in music. I am grateful every single day of my life.
I was excited about the voting process, learning about it and participating in it. It would be fun (insert Donald’s head saying WRONG here). It was not fun. In fact it was frustrating beyond anything I imagined. I have wanted to break my television on many occasions (I’m looking at you Kayleigh McEnany!) and I CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO BE OVER!
I’m am deeply disappointed that this country has given a national voice to a divisive candidate who has inspired bigotry, racism and hate. A candidate who, to me, is the direct opposite of everything that America stands for. Well, we won’t stand for it. I was inspired yesterday by the words of a favorite Frank Sinatra tune, The House I Live In. I sang these lyrics with a new gravity, and with hope and anticipation for the future of this country.
Today I vote for the first time, I vote for a WOMAN, a candidate who inspires unity, inclusion and love. A candidate who has spent a lifetime as a public servant. A candidate who we can be proud of as a nation. A candidate who knows we ARE STRONGER TOGETHER.
