I would not consider myself a very patriotic person. I didn't care that Obama didn't wear an American flag pin or say "God bless America" after every speech. I wouldn't want to do it myself. I don't know. There's something about being a child of immigrants, of seeing my parents still feel like outsiders in their country of citizenship and residency of nearly 30 years, of being asked what country I'm from and of comments about my non-accent, let alone all of the other stuff I see other people experience that becomes a mental barrier for me. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to be living in this country, and there are many things about it that I like too.
But yesterday, something felt really different for me. I felt PROUD. I felt so very proud of our country and the choice that we have made for our next President. I felt like waving a flag, wearing red, white and blue. I felt patriotism for the first time, on a new level. I can't quite articulate it. But there was an internal switch that flipped. I can't believe we are going to have a black president. He will be our representative abroad. Him. Child of an immigrant. Raised by a single mom. With a black face.
I can't contain my joy today. It's a new day in America.
Comments (2)
You should be proud. I am right there with you. Your story is something I empathize with. The joy I feel is not fully describable and may this go along way in showing you that you are a part of this country.
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You said what I have been feeling. I have always been patriotic, in that I love our country (not blindly), get teary-eyed at the National Anthem, raise the flag on holidays, etc. But as the daughter of immigrants too, I felt proud in a particularly deep way this last week.