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"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and
entirely
renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign
prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have
heretofore been a subject or citizen;
that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws
of the
United States of America against all enemies, foreign and
domestic;
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States
when
required by the law;
that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed
Forces of
the United States when required by the law;
that I will perform work of national importance under
civilian
direction when required by the law;
and that I take this obligation freely without any
mental
reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."
That is the Oath of Allegiance that I swore to when I
became a
naturalized citizen of the United States. It's the only oath I've
ever sworn and it's one that I did not take lightly, without
thinking over the ramifications. Because I seriously intend to
abide by it, for our ability to hold promises is extremely
important.
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<>The
first
part says that I give up my previous status as a
citizen of Peru. When I first started the naturalization process
I didn't think about this. Sure, I would give up my citizenship
when the time came. At least that's what I thought. Until I read
those words that I would swear to.
Although I haven't lived in Peru since I was eight, it still my
birth country. And I feel that I ought to have some loyalty to
it. For a while I entertained the thought of just forgetting
about being a citizen, for I wasn't sure that I was ready to make
this sort of commitment. But eventually, after some long thought,
I decided that I could, with a clear conscience, swear to this
part.
The second statement, "support and defend the
Constitution", I
take quite seriously. There are a lot of people -- born citizens
-- who don't realize just how much freedom the Constitution
actually provides. Now, I don't recall what freedoms I didn't
have when I was growing up in Peru, but I'm sure they weren't
guaranteed by the Constitution of Peru.
Statements 4-6 basically say that I will provide my
services,
however needed, in times of emergency. Frankly, after the first
three statements, I'm not too sure what these provide. To me,
statements 2 and 3 are sufficient to guarantee that I will help
in time of need. But I guess some people don't quite understand.
This is the most important thing I've commited to do in
my life.
I took it quite seriously and put some amount of consideration
into it before swearing to it. And it's something that I needed
to remind myself, just like I'm doing now.
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