Lest We Forget

This post isn't about Parkinson's Disease, except in the fact that I had a good enough day today that I didn't feel the need to write about it! I actually could think of something else for once, so I decided to take advantage of this good day and write about something other than my disease. So here's my non-Parkinsons post:

A surprising thing happened at the salon where I had my nails done last Tuesday.

My salon is owned by permanent resident aliens who struggle with their English, work hard from morning till night, and write to loved ones at home whom they miss dearly. They do a great job on my nails, although we do have the occasional language barrier. Like Tuesday... I thought I was getting a French manicure with a flower on my ring fingernail. What I got was a solid color nail with a flower on my ring fingernail, which wasn't exactly the color I would have chosen for a solid nail.  When the nail tech asked me to choose a color, I chose a natural tone I expected would pair nicely with a white tip. Alas, the white tip was apparently lost in interpretation, so now I just have a natural color....with a flower drawn on top. But it's growing on me!

In spite of the language barrier, I've learned a thing or two about my nail tech.  She is as good at eyebrows as she is at nails. She calls me Mama because she thinks I look like her mother. She thinks doing my eyebrows takes 10 years off my age. And...when she says, "I do this for you," what she really means is, "This will cost you a little extra."

And did I say she does a better job on my nails than anyone else ever has?

One other thing I've learned about Tina is that she wants to become a US citizen. While I was getting painted and flowered on Tuesday, Tina had a video playing on her phone at her station about citizenship. It appeared to be provided by the US government and walked the immigrant through the required one-on-one interview, telling them what to expect, what kind of conversational questions might be asked, and what the immigration officer would be looking for.

At the same time as we were listening to the video, the centrally mounted television set was competing for my attention with all kinds of interesting 5:00 news stories. Each time I looked away toward the television, Tina would nudge me and gesture toward her video playing on the table by my left hand. For whatever reason, she wanted me to share her video experience. 

And so I listened with her as the knowledge section of the video spouted questions and the corresponding answers about American history, geography, current events, and government. She repeated the answers after the moderator on the video as if trying them out to see how the strange combination of consonants and vowels felt coming off her tongue.

"Who was the Father of our Country?" George Washington.
"Name 2 wars that took place in the 1900's."  Korean War, World War I, World War II, the Gulf War, Vietnam War
"Name 2 of the 13 original colonies." Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island.
"Who is the Vice-President of the United States today?" Joseph Biden.
"What are the 3 branches of government?"  Legislative, Judicial, Executive
"Would you be willing to bear arms to defend the United States of America?"  Yes.
"Would you swear your loyalty to the United States, forsaking all other countries?"  Yes.

Etc., etc., etc.

In this unkind world of politics, in this election year, in this environment of slanted, inaccurately reported news, it was refreshing and heartwarming  to hear non-partisan, factual questions and answers, and a review of American history. It reminded me of how proud I am to be an American. In spite of all the things I disagree with, and all the mistakes we make as a nation, and all the manipulation that goes on in our government, in that moment, I felt pride and a sense of belonging to the greatest nation in the world.

So, lest we forget, here are the lessons I learned:

1) Not all immigrants are bad or illegal, or out to steal your job or your money, or blow up airplanes. Some of them are people like you and me with stories and dreams, and they want to become Americans.

2) Our country is still great and strong, and worth being proud of.

Maybe we all should listen to the citizenship video periodically.

"God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with the light from above." 

Amen.