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My friend Lindsay just became a citizen of the US and he received this notification. I have never seen this letter and I'm wondering if it's been the same for many years or does it change with different administrations? Has anyone ever had the privilege of receiving this letter?
I love their reference to values. There has been a lot of analysis in the last decade about the way in which that term's meaning has evolved. Hard work, honesty, courage et al used to be what we meant by "American values". Unfortunately, this has been replaced by "family values" in the modern discourse. Its a marketing bate-and-switch that's been perpetrated by our country's leading bigots, but I'm glad to see that its original meaning hasn't been lost in official government communications.
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thenewgreen · 4279 days ago · link ·
I thought it was a well written letter and I would imagine that it's a pretty great feeling to receive it. It's all too easy to forget how fortunate we are to have been born in the U.S. There are so many people in the world that are trying hard to get in while so many people that are in, have no idea how lucky they are.
Traveling is the best way to gain appreciation for the freedoms and resources we have in the US. I was in Guatemala a couple years ago and while it's an amazing country with some great people, I couldn't imagine having a soldier with a machine gun around every corner (Guatemala City). Or having to pay off corrupt police just to advance your car beyond a check-point. Great insight in to the language of the letter b_b, the definition for "values" has changed or been "co-opted" by the social conservatives of this country.