Celebrate fellow citizens at special Constitution Day ceremony on The Murfreesboro Post

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Celebrate fellow citizens at special Constitution Day ceremony

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By: GINA FANN, MTSU News & Media Relations

Posted: Sunday, September 16, 2012 12:00 am

Celebrate fellow citizens at special Constitution Day ceremony | MTSU, Constitution Day, Event, Naturalization

Inside MTSU’s Murphy Center on Monday, Sept. 17, hundreds of dreams will come true.

Three hundred American dreams, to be specific, in a special naturalization ceremony that will make those dreamers U.S. citizens.

Actually, if you count the family, friends, colleagues and neighbors of each of the new citizens, that’s more like thousands of American dreams coming true.

At 2 p.m. Monday, MTSU will hold a special session of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, where Magistrate Judge Joe B. Brown will preside.

Chief Justice Gary R. Wade of the Tennessee Supreme Court will make a keynote address, and then 300 people – including two MTSU students – will recite an oath of national allegiance.

If you can’t be inside Murphy Center for the event, you can watch it live online at itsc3.fsa.mtsu.edu/itsc/flash beginning at 2 p.m. Please don’t miss it.

Those of us who have pledged allegiance to the U.S. flag every morning since at least kindergarten could make the mistake of thinking Monday’s ceremony is no big deal.

Think about this, though: We native-born citizens are only Americans by an accident of birth. If our ancestors had not chosen or been forced to leave their homelands and live here, we wouldn’t have been born in the United States.

We’d have had to travel here, often just ahead of persecution or death, and recreate our lives. We’d have to apply for jobs, housing and green cards, find a place of worship, get an education. We’d have to learn all the rules of a new land and prove that we can be model citizens in it.

And maybe we’d be standing alongside our neighbors, friends and colleagues on Monday, swearing that oath of allegiance too.

Could you do all that? In just five years? And take a test on it? And pass it?

You don’t have to be able to name every member of the U.S. Supreme Court to be a good American citizen. You don’t have to recite the U.S. Constitution upon request, either.

You do have to follow the rules, though – the ones in the Constitution that govern every person who lives in the United States. That’s how we form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility.

Are we proud to stand alongside them? Are we as proud of the nation that bore us as they are of the nation that’s accepted them? Is our love of country as strong as theirs?

It should be, and we should be. We’re all Americans.

Learn what it takes to become a citizen at uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/citizenship. Read the Constitution online at archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html.

Gina E. Fann works in MTSU’s Office of News and Media Relations and manages content for the University’s news site, MTSUnews.com. Through a simple accident of birth, she is an eighth-generation American and a seventh-generation Tennessean.

Tagged under Constitution Day, Event, MTSU, Naturalization

Member Opinions:

By: mjs6b-mtsu-1114 on 9/18/12
I find it truly amazing that MTSU hosted a Naturalization Ceremony. This ceremony acknowledged three hundred people as U.S citizens.Their hardships,hopes,aspirations,and love of the United States was finally recognized on September 17,2012. In my opinion American citizens today take advantage of the freedom to vote,have a voice,available education, and decent healthcare. I know citizens from different countries wish they had our form of government.Americans complain about the government all the time but should be thankful to have civil rights and liberites. The speaker at the ceremony was Cheif Justice Gary R Wade of the Tennessee Supreme Court. He was very passionate about the ceremony. He spoke to the hearts of soon to be U.S citizens and the minds of current citizens . He reminded the current citizens of how fortunate we are to live in America and have citizenship.Although, fortunate is a small word compared to what we truly are which is blessed.Also it is very innovative that MTSU was able to record the ceremony. So,Those who could not attend the event could view it online at itsc3.fsa.mtsu.edu/itsc/flash.It is good that MTSU is using technological resources to share this ceremony with others.Lastly,not only was this naturalization ceremony a special moment for the three hundred people gaining citizenship; It was a historic moment for MTSU to be apart of. Im so glad we hosted this event.