No. I am not thankful for my passport. (Well that's not totally true. Sometimes, during the holidays with my family, I am thankful for the ability to escape internationally.)
I am thankful for what the passport stands for. This passport says that I am an American citizen and that is a powerful thing. The United States of America is the best country around the word. Yes, that sounds argent, but let me explain.
What does being an American citizen mean to you? Have you ever taken a moment to think about it?
For me, I never asked myself that question until I was studying abroad in Europe. That year my study abroad program was having Thanksgiving in Bosnia. Yes, Bosnia, once referred to as the black hole of Europe. It was 2005, 10 years after the war and we drove through much of the country, on our way Sarevjo, the capital. Nothing prepared me for the trip.
As we drove through small town/village, we began to see the tragedy of war. For example, in one village, we saw a burned down house, next to another burned down house, which was next to a house perfectly intact. The village church was burned to the ground, but the mosque was untouched.
In the next village over, we saw more burned down houses, next to houses that were untouched. The mosque in this village was bombed out and the church untouched. Every village and small town was similar to this and it went on for miles on top of miles.
The bus was silent for almost an hour. This was the first time many of us saw the effects of war. In the United States, we are very sheltered. It has been hundreds of years since war has occurred on our homeland. Very few us have lived through the effects of war: waking to the sound of bombs, running from gunfire and wondering who might break down the door in the middle of the night.
The bus ride to Sarevjo was eye opening, but the damage in the capital was equally as bad. Ten years after the war and the capital still showed signs of war. Typically, the capital is the first place rebuilt. However, building after building, in the Capital, still showed massive damage.
Speaking with locals, we were told that schools had to be cut in half. Half the school was for Muslim students and the other half of the school was for Christian students. Students used separate entrances, played in their own playgrounds, and had their respective teachers. The students never interacted with their peers of a different religion. These were two separate schools using the same building. The theory was that neither side would attack the school of their children were in the school.
Have you ever feared for your children, nieces or siblings to go to school? Yes, we have had a string of school shootings over the past decade, but for most parents, a school is one of the safest places for children. In many countries, parents fear every day when their children leave for school. Parents don't have the same worries in the United States. Similarly, every student in the United States has a right to an education. That isn't the situation in many countries of the world.
Electricity free flows in the United States, most of time. (Yes, sometimes it does not work for days or weeks, but we know it will come back on). Our electronic gadgets (which we obtain easily, well maybe not the IPhone 5) allow us to connect to the internet from the comfort of our home or the Starbucks down the street without censorship. Our opinions, on the election to the legitimacy of Kim Kardashian's wedding, can be made without the fear of persecution (except if you talk about the legitimacy of Kim Kardashian's wedding, you will probably get sued).
We live in a country of freedoms. Living in the US, allows us to practice the religion that we want, read books the we feel like and vote for the candidate that we best represents our beliefs, all without fear of government persecution. The United States just had a Presidential Election without violence. In many countries around the world, an incumbent winning a close election would have resulted in violence, the day after the election. The only fear most Americans had about the day after the election was that their would not have been a winner.
I remember sitting down for Thanksgiving that year and being thankful for the small things. I was embarrassed. For 20+ years beforehand, I never once was thankful for the small things. I took for granted how good we had in the United States. I took for granted the water that came from our faucet, the food that I ate, the schools I attended and so on. It took this trip to Bosnia to make me stop and be thankful.
I sent an email to my friends back home from the Holiday Inn Sarevjo that Thanksgiving, that summarized my feelings:
"We are very blessed to wake up in a nation that we have little fear of being shot dead as we go off to work. We are bless to live in a nation where there is an ample supply of food. We are blessed to live in nation that allows us to have little fear of our neighbors. This war in Bosnia was nasty. Even though there has been peace in the nation for ten years a week from Friday, their are still burnt villages, bullet holed buildings and hate runs rampant through the country. I never knew how good I had it until I came here....just a though to think about."
Since 2005, at Thanksgiving, I have stopped for a few moments to says thanks for the small things that we take for granted.
This year I am thankful for . . .
- Knowing where my next meal comes from
- Not fearing leaving my front door
- Clean Water
- Clean Air
- Free public education
- Censorship free internet
- The ability to practice the religion I like without prosecution
- Free thought
- Violence free civil discourse
- And the list goes on . . .
I would be remiss to not be thankful for the ability to travel the world without having to get the government's approval. Yes, some countries require visas to enter, but the only thing the United States requires is a passport, which is good for 10 years. In many countries, one needs to get the approval of your home government to travel, even within your own country.
The United States of America is a country of freedoms. A country that protects the freedoms of all of its citizens. Hundreds of thousands of people risk their lives to come to this country, because even the though of being poor in the United States is better than the country they are escaping from. The United State is the greatest nation around the world and citizenship is an amazing asset.
And for this I am thankful. I am thankful to be an American citizen and all the small things that guarantees me.
Happy Thanksgiving All!!!
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