[Magdalen] Naturalization Ceremony

[Rick Mashburn]

What a lovely story. Thank you for sharing!

Peace, Rick

On Sat, Jun 6, 2015 at 2:42 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:

> Had an interesting afternoon yesterday.
>
> Went to the Wallace center, a part of the FDR Library and Home in Hyde Park
> as a driver.  They were having a naturalization ceremony, and the DAR was
> supplying refreshments.
> I've never seen this before, and I wanted to see it.  It turns out it's
> like so many other things.  Hurry up and wait.
> Homeland Security now must speak individually with each candidate. Among
> other things, they ask them if they have changed their mind since applying
> for citizenship.
> H S had a group in the morning in Rockland County, and were apparently
> delayed for two hours, so everybody had to wait for them.
> This gave our county executive, Marcus Molinaro, a chance to practice his
> stand-up routine "I have a lot of jokes <pause> some of them are funny."
> After a particularly lame joke, he pointed to one lady, "Excuse me ma'am. I
> see you are laughing.  Did you REALLY think that was funny? Yes? And where
> are you from, ma'am?  Jamaica? Oh I have to get down there to talk."
> He gamely went on poking fun at himself for about fifteen minutes ("If
> someone somewhere is opening an envelope, I will be there!")
> He was always interested in politics as a young man, and he got tired of
> hearing the trustees in his village saying, no matter what the subject,
> "Oh, we can't do that." He learned a bit about representative gummint, and
> he suddenly realized that if he wanted change, he might be the one to start
> it.
> He ran for village trustee at eighteen years old -- and won.
> A year later, he found out the mayor was retiring, and he was starting to
> enjoy politics. "So I ran home as fast as I could and asked my mother if I
> was permitted to run for mayor. She said yes, so I did, and I won. I was
> mayor for twelve years."
> Marc is now in his forties (I believe). You may hear more of this man in
> the coming years, he's that good.
>
> Eventually we worked around to the ceremony.  Looking out the window at the
> statue of Eleanor and Franklin sitting on a bench just like plain folks, I
> looked around at these people (73 individuals were naturalized that day) I
> felt we obviously have something going on here if these folks are coming
> here from different lands (There was a map in the room with a stick pin for
> every country: Canada, S. America, Vietnam, Russia, Africa, the usual
> European suspects)
>
> We started out by singing the national anthem in a sort of organum.
>
> And then the oath itself, including the same words I swore as a non-com,
> but with a marvelous twist:
> The administrator went "Repeat after me.
> I -- state your name --"
> And they then went around the room. Each of the seventy-three people, one
> by one, stated their name.  This part touched me so very deeply, but I was
> totally unprepared for the little incident that happened next.
> In the midst of this, each person is reciting his name, going around the
> room in a prearranged order, and then I heard, but it did not fully
> register until a moment later (Huh? Did that really happen?), one person
> stated his name:
>
> "Ronald Reagan <surname>"
>
> Some one person spontaneously clapped. I am glad they did because I would
> have convinced myself I imagined it. But it was over, and the ceremony just
> carried on.
>
> Two people in front of me were obviously new citizens, and I got the
> privilege of being the very first person to congratulate them on their
> citizenship.
>
> And then, all in the room now being citizens, we pledged allegiance to the
> flag<snif>.
>
> Then we sang America the Beautiful in sort of parallel thirds.  Sweet.
>
> Everybody got their picture taken by friends, standing next to the flag
> pointing to THEIR stick-pin.  Goodness.  From all over the world....
>
> We had a huge pile of cookies and drinks and they were all gone. Yay.
>
> I always enjoy visiting the center.  I never knew FDR. He died before I was
> born. But I've always felt a connection.  We talked about Mrs. Roosevelt in
> school all the time when I was a kid.
>
> When I was an undergrad at Pitt, I had some business in the Cathedral of
> Learning, and was getting into an elevator. I was chatting with the
> elevator operator, who was an African-American gentleman. For some reason,
> the name of Franklin Roosevelt came up, and at that moment, the man took
> off his hat.
>
> He looked me, looked at his hat, looked at me.
>
> And then, he said, "He made us feel like he cared about us." I cannot
> imagine a more noble monument than that doffed cap.
>
> Our President could not stand, yet he helped America get back on its feet.
>
> And every time I visit, I think of all that....
>
>
>
>
> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>