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Americans still fight good fight
(by Barbara Christian - July 26, 2012)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Americans still fight good fight
Our yoga classmate Maggie won't mind if we tell you about what happened to her last Friday after she left her home in Chagrin Falls and drove downtown, raised her right hand, swore to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and became an American citizen.
It's the same initiation perhaps millions of people have experienced and reminds us there is no such thing as "an original American."
We have all come from somewhere else, including the folks who landed at Plymouth Rock and even Native Americans, at least if we are to believe the anthropologists. But I digress.
No equivocation on Maggie's part regarding her newly minted American status. She says she will not hold dual citizenship with the country of her birth, and she has a list of things to capitalize on her citizenship.
First on her "to do" list is a trip to the Chagrin Falls Library, where she will pick up an application for an American passport. She wants to be able to leave her new country every now and then to visit family.
Her second task is to register to vote, so she can cast her first ballot in November's presidential election.
We don't know Maggie's political views. Yoga does not lend itself to ideological debate. However she leans -- left or right -- we get a contact thrill knowing she will soon be a card-carrying member of the American electorate.
Unfortunately, that thrill is tempered with apprehension, and we will hold our breath for Maggie on Election Day. In fact, let's all hope Maggie actually makes it into one of the voting booths at Chagrin Falls High School and is not stopped from doing so by some election functionary who will ask (cringe) to see her papers.
Aside to Maggie: Just in case, bring your papers. All of them, including your last utility bill and Giant Eagle fuel perks card. You just never know what may be lurking in the new voting rules ready to throw cold water on your big day.
As you may have noticed here, we tend to give advice on everything and anything to anyone and everyone, so our first reaction on hearing Maggie's news is the fear she may have to fight for her right to vote right of the bat.
And yet it is so American. We don't mean to speechify or go all Aaron Sorkin on you, but this so-called great experiment that is America has never been a walk in the park, and fighting the good fight comes with the territory. Our bloody history tells us so. Think Jim Crow. Think women's suffrage. Think those new voting regulations.
After 236 years, we are still trying to get it right. Still trying to follow the forefathers' recipe that is the Constitution.
All these years later, we Americans are still pursuing life, liberty and happiness, not to mention justice for all, and we do it in full battle gear. We think new recruit Maggie is up to the fight.
To Maggie: Our best advice on meeting head on this great experiment of ours is to love every minute of it. Scream in protest when you need to, and it won't hurt to remember what our yoga teacher tells us every week. Set your intention, clear your mind and breathe.
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