Thanks for letting me in
August 20th, 2008 | by Klaus Holzapfel |Today marks a special day on my calendar as I turned into an American Citizen.
I have arrived;-)
I visited this country the first time in 1983 and figured that this is where I will eventually end up. I don’t want to bore you with the details and all the different Visa (F1, E2…) I had over the years.
I have enjoyed living here for over 11 years now and this country is my home. But something felt incomplete: I wasn’t allowed to vote.
Since my wife and my daughter are American it also felt a bit strange not to have the same nationality as my family.
I feel appreciative of the fact to become a “full” member of this society. Not everything here is perfect and I rather look at an “American challenge” than an “American dream” when I am thinking of our future.
But this is a place that let’s me live my life the way I want to.
I can speak my mind. Everyone who knows me knows that I do.
I have the freedom to pursue my interests. Business or personal.
I know I can make a difference and I feel accepted.
I won’t run around draped in red, white and blue. I won’t put flags up on 4th of July. I won’t start singing the anthem before sports games either. God bless America sounds to me like something is missing. All this is simply not my cup of tea.
But America knows all that and it is still letting me in. And for that I am thankful.
I have to confess: I will still root for Germany in soccer;-)
PS:
I did some older ladies injustice on Twitter earlier today. The gathered to sing the anthem and actually did a fabulous job.
