Why I'm Excited to Become A U.S. Citizen!

An email bearing exciting news from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service was waiting in my inbox when I returned this morning from a fantastic July 4th long weekend.

I will officially be a U.S. Citizen this time next year. The longer I've lived here the more my appreciation and gratitude has grown for the incredible opportunity to pursue "life, liberty, and happiness" under the brilliant system devised by the Founding Fathers.

While the processing time to go from Permanent Resident Alien (Green Card) to full-fledged Citizen has ballooned from 6 months to 18 months, I've been very impressed with the INS service. I've found them to be surprisingly efficient, from the initial online application to the frequent and timely email communications, to the short hold times on their customer service line and quick response to queries. Even with a full house, my biometrics appointment in the Atlanta Processing Center only took an hour.

Oxford historian Niall Ferguson (probably a distant relative) was also impressed with the INS. He shared his swearing-in ceremony experience in this short video and summarizes why he thinks now is a fine time to become an American. I couldn't agree more.

Also in my inbox this morning was Alan Weiss' Balancing Act® newsletter with his July 4th message. Below are Alan's thoughts on the importance of July 4th as a time to commemorate what makes this country truly great. His observations capture many of the reasons why I'm thrilled with the opportunity to become a new Citizen.

We live in a free country with tremendous potential in a nearly 250-year experiment in freedom and liberty.

• We are far from perfect and we expose our flaws to the world, debate them internally, and try to find resolutions which are acceptable.

• Every four years since 1789 an election for president has been held, as it will be for certain for the next 230 years, and you can’t say that about anyplace else.

• Even when politics are most heated, there are no tanks in the streets, no military might on display. Most of us accept wins and losses.

• We produce an inordinate amount of innovation, technical progress, medical cures and preventives, and a plethora of other breakthroughs for the world.

• We have defended most of the world against tyranny, often too zealously in our application, perhaps, but we’ve turned former enemies into staunch allies and rebuilt both Japan and Europe.

• Students from all over the world flock to this country to learn.

• We have striven to explore deep space and the depths of the oceans.

• We are generous with our time, money, information, and assistance. We are the first to offer disaster aid abroad and to come to our neighbors' sides at home.

• We are becoming increasingly diverse, with some pains and problems, but our progress is inexorable.

• We field world-class athletes, scientists, entertainers, and professionals.

• We are resilient, and we always recover from cowardly terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and illness.

• For all of our flaws and mistakes and misdeeds, we are basically good people with good intentions. Our contributions to the world have been overwhelmingly positive.

We are a beacon of light, a city on the hill. We apologize for our errors but not for who we are. We have every right to be proud of what we’ve accomplished.

And that’s why the Fourth of July is important.