My fellow Americans, Happy 4th of July! I'm going to preface these next few thoughts by letting you how much I love America; she is vast in endless possibility and still remains a beacon of hope for those of us who live here and to my brothers and sisters from other countries who risk their lives at a chance for the opportunity of the hope she brings. She still moves me to tears every time Ray Charles hits that first note of "America the Beautiful" and I've never taken for granted God's gift to me that, through no action of my own, I was born 15 miles north of the Rio Grande River.
However, she is imperfect and the girl's got a way to go.
Every year on my birthday I take some time to reflect and truthfully assess areas of improvement. So as we celebrate the birth of the idea of America I am hoping you'll pause for a moment and consider this: patriotism and the recognition that we have not achieved the ideology set out in the Declaration of Independence can and must co-exist. It is not treason to acknowledge that America can always improve. Here's what I am proposing: when you find yourself in conversation with another American over an opposing view consider pausing instead of immediately flinging, "If you don't like it you can leave" or my absolute favorite, "If you don't like it you can go back to your own country!"
The number of times I've been witness to these statements being flung in frustration and ignorance masked as patriotism is disturbing.
Most recently I was at a ballpark when the news spread about the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action. Things got heated between a group discussing the ruling and eventually one guy said, "honestly bro if you don't like it you can go back to your own country!"
I walked away with a grin thinking, "one, that "bro" was citizen of the United States and as a Latina I am so thankful many Americans before before me did not subscribe to that stale ideology. If they had I still would not be able to vote, I would be fired for getting pregnant, I couldn't get a loan without my husband, I couldn't learn to read, and on and on the flowing stream of freedom flows.
Here's the reality: everyday we are loyal to self, to others, and to institutions we value while simultaneously recognizing the need for improvement, the need to be better. When I turned 35 years old I realized I needed to improve my health. In short: I acknowledged I needed to pursue a healthier version of me and then set about the action of doing so.
I, like many of you, have a deep allegiance to family and, because I value my marriage and my children, in loving them I acknowledge the imperfection held in those evolving relationships and continuously work to fortify them.
I serve on the finance committee at my church, I am an executive of a non-profit that employs almost 100 people and serves thousands of families, and serve my community as an elected official. In all those capacities I have an unwavering allegiance to the mission which is why I am constantly searching for ways to improve those institutions. In fact, loyalty must abide in the pursuit of improvement.
So while you and your family head off to community parades, gather around the pit, sing our national anthem and wait for the fireworks, consider for a moment the state of your patriotism. Does it rest in the stagnant waters of, "if you don't like it you can go back to your own country," or does it abide in the ideology of hope and improvement set forth in the Declaration of Independence?
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