A Fourth of July Story

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Happy Fourth of July! This is a special holiday for me. As an immigrant I was given the opportunity to choose, to really choose to become an American. It is not a right that I take for granted, nor a country that I take for granted. I did not come here because I was persecuted in my country or because I hated it. I just loved America more. It was a choice, a well thought out choice.

Why the United States of America?

Growing up in France, America was always in the background of my life. Both my parents had spent time there and loved it. Laura and Mary Ingalls were my heroes, first because of the TV show (so ashamed of that now, lol!). But then because of Laura’s writing of her family’s story. The American spirit of adventure and independence was calling my name! For the 50th anniversary of D-Day my Dad brought me back a huge American flag that lived on my bedroom wall all of my teenage years. Anything American that I could get my hands on, I would. But why exactly? I am not sure, it was calling to me, I just had to go…

Discovering America

In high school I was offered the opportunity to go to Washington state for a month to babysit my parents’ friends’ children. And just like that I was in America! The culture shock was fantastic! I loved it! I loved it so much that I came back the following year to learn English as a second language and go to college, and haven’t left since. Granted meeting my husband in college does have a lot to do with it too. But when people ask me if I wouldn’t want to go back to France, the answer is always the same, no. I love to visit France, but America is my home.

Choosing America

A few years into my marriage, I decided to apply for my citizenship. There was no reason for me not to. My heart and my family were in America and in America I intended to stay. And  six months later I was sworn in as a citizen of the United States of America.

The catalyst

The summer I made my decision to apply for my citizenship, I was reading aloud, for the first time, Little Town on the Prairie to my children. This was my first time reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s words in English and it was with a much better understanding of US history and geography, the whole series became even more fascinating to me. It was coming to life. In her chapter “Fourth of July” Laura has an epiphany about what it means to be an American. Her epiphany became my epiphany. It might sound really cheesy, but that is when I really understood what it meant to be an American and when I made the decision to be an American.

This Fourth of July

So this Fourth of July, find your epiphany. Why should you be proud to be an American? Having married in a patriotic family had helped me understand many things about love of country, but Laura’s epiphany was the catalyst.

Final thought

I want to leave you with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s own words. Laura, Carrie and Pa are in town celebrating the Fourth of July. Speeches have been made, the Declaration (which they know by heart) has been read and they are just finishing to sing My Country, ‘Tis of Thee. 

“… Laura stood stock still. Suddenly she had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the song came together in her mind, and she thought: God is America’s king.  She thought: Americans won’t obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences. No king bosses Pa; He has to boss himself. Why (she thought), when I am a little older, Pa and Ma will stop telling me what to do, and there isn’t anyone else who has a right to give me orders. I will make myself be good.
Her whole mind seemed lighted up by that thought. This is what it means to be free. It means you have to be good.  “Our fathers’ God, author of liberty-” The Laws of nature and of nature’s God endow you with a right to life and liberty. Then you have to keep the laws of God, for God’s law is the only thing that gives you a right to be free.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie, Fourth of July chapter. 

Blessed Fourth of July to each one of  you,
Love,
Mattie