A Naturalized Citizen's Thoughts On Patriotism And The Flag

Naresh Sharma
10023 Florida Boulevard, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70815
nsharma1@ix.netcom.com

A naturalized citizen is prouder and happier to be an American today than he was when he first "married" America a decade ago.

May 2, 1991: Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The stage of the Performing Arts Center was decked with a gigantic U.S. flag. In the audience were men, women, and children from many countries. Each was looking forward to the morning's proceedings. In moments, they, with this writer among them, would be asked to take the solemn oath of allegiance and become citizens of the United States. Their friends and family members were there, too, and everyone looked at the giant flag.

No other national symbol stirs emotions higher and deeper than the "Stars and Stripes" for it symbolizes inclusion, not exclusion. Strong emotions ran through the audience. Each person had left home and family in Latin America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa for the promise of a better life in this great land. The flag symbolized the aspirations of each person and commanded the attention of every participant.

Witnessing the ceremony from the gallery was my wife, Major Chandan Sharma, M.D. (photo above), who had just come home after serving six months active duty during Desert Storm with the 4010 U.S. Army Hospital. She had received the call from her reserve unit on December 3, 1990, to report to Fort Polk, Louisiana.

As the morning's proceedings moved on, this writer, like everyone there, was experiencing a mixture of strong and conflicting emotions. In 1963, I had been commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the 3 Kumaon Rifles, an infantry unit in the Indian Army. I had led my company in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 and the 1971 war that created Bangladesh, the third country in 14 years born out of pre-independence India. I had received a gallantry award and a Purple Heart (though in India we call it the Wound Medal) in the 1971 war. Awaiting the oath ceremony, I looked around and wondered how many of us would be willing to pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to obtain and maintain the freedoms guaranteed to every citizen in the United States, freedoms that make America unique among all nations.

Pilgrims came to this country seeking religious freedom, peasants came searching for economic freedom, minorities have come yearning for cultural freedom, and others have come wanting individual freedom. For each one of us, about to take the oath that day, the journey to realize our dreams was both coming to fruition and, in a sense, starting again. Individually, the choices we would make would make us, in practice as well as in oath, true Americans.

For this writer, the day was happy, yet sad. India does not permit dual citizenship, so to become an American citizen, I had to renounce my Indian citizenship, not an easy step when you have shed blood to protect your land. It is almost like giving up a mother to take a wife. But this writer was proud of his decision to "marry" America, and, seeing the huge flag on the stage, I remembered the words of Franklin K. Lane: "I am whatever you make me—nothing more. But always I am all you hope to be and have the courage to try for. I am song and fear, struggle and panic and ennobling hope. I am the day's work for the weakest man, and the largest dream of the most daring. . . . I am no more than what you believe me to be. My stars and stripes are your dream and your labor. For you are the makers of the flag, and it is well that you glory in its making."

This writer's eyes moistened when it came time to repeat the oath of citizenship, and my voice choked. It was an awesome undertaking to promise to defend liberty for my generation and to ensure freedom for my children's future. But the giant flag on the stage gave me courage and hope as I whispered to myself, "I will do my part, I promise."

Naresh Sharma is the founding editor of the statewide Louisiana Scottish Rite Trestleboard launched in January 1999 and has edited the Valley of Baton Rouge Trestleboard since 1990. Bro. Sharma has the unique distinction of being raised a Master Mason twice, once in Samyukta Lodge No. 126, New Delhi, India, under the Grand Lodge of India in 1969, and then in Alexandria Lodge No. 398, Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1984. Now a member of St. James Lodge No. 47, Baton Rouge (Master 1989), he wrote the Lodge's sesquicentennial history in 1994. A member of the Valley of Baton Rouge, he served as Venerable Master of the Lodge of Perfection in 1994, was invested with the Rank and Decoration of K.C.C.H. in 1991 and coroneted a 33° in 1999.