This is an uncertain time to become an American considering the current political climate. After watching the news just yesterday, of senseless mass shootings, ongoing wars abroad and the hostile, intolerant rhetoric coming from presidential candidates (I am speaking about you Mr. Trump), I get why some folks talk about leaving America.
Days before, as I prepared for the swearing oath ceremony to become a naturalized citizen of the United States, I wondered, what does it mean for me to become an American? What principals can I live by that are American through and through?
As I pondered these questions, I opened a card from my dear friend, Allison, to celebrate my upcoming citizenship.
In the card, she wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
As I read those words, my heartbeat quickened and tears welled in my eyes. I felt as though the founding fathers were speaking directly to me. The words repeated in my mind, over and over again. From, “truths to be self-evident” to, “created equal” then, “unalienable rights” and of course, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
Flashes of insight and clarity followed as I felt the full import of the Declaration of Independence settle in my heart. I realized that prior to the Declaration of Independence, no nation on Earth had actually declared that all individuals had inherent rights. Not a single one.
The founding fathers of the United States of America birthed a new, revolutionary way of thinking about governance and the rights of individuals. Those ideas opened the door to countless movements for independence, self-determination, and revolution after 1776.
Did you know that more than half of the 192 countries now represented at the United Nations have a founding document that can be called a declaration of independence .The Declaration of Independence is also the basis for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Declaration of Independence changed the world and the essence of those ideas rings true today: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I write these words again to remind myself that these rights do not exist for everyone in the world. Even here in the US, the fog of greed and intolerance can obscure the purpose of this precious gift. Prejudice, ignorance, and injustice can chip away at the foundations of our liberties all the while masquerading as tradition, values, or security.
The Declaration of Independence is a living document. All that it spoke of centuries ago is still true and applicable today. It is this, that I choose to uphold now as an American and as a conscious, caring citizen of the world.
Weeks before his death on July 4, 1826, Thomas Jefferson made an assessment about the potential of the Declaration of Independence: He said it is “an instrument, pregnant with our own and the fate of the world.”
American is the “land of the free and home of the brave” only if we uphold these self-evident truths, not just for ourselves, but all of humanity.