I Pledge Allegiance...

With my right hand on my chest, I first recited this pledge in a middle school classroom while gazing up at a miniature American flag. I was not a U.S. citizen then, but I recall parroting the words a split second after they left my classmates' mouths, as a show of determination to fit into my strange new surroundings. At the time, I still held fond and vivid memories of chanting another pledge while looking up at my own country's flag from a schoolyard, in a sea of other pony-tailed girls in blue and white uniforms.

25 years later, I finally made the decision to "fully commit" and apply for U.S. citizenship. And on Friday, I will complete the second-to-last step of my naturalization process - the in-person interview.* In preparation, our breakfast table conversations over the past week have been partly devoted to drill sergeant-type testing on American history, based on recommended questions supplied by the Department of Homeland Security. Here's a sampling**:

• How many stripes are there on our flag and what do they represent?
• How many changes, or amendments, are there to the Constitution?
• How many voting members are in the House of Representatives?
• What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
• Name the amendments that guarantee or address voting rights.

Why am I taking the plunge now? My growing commitment to civic responsibility and an extreme "fed-uppedness" gave me that last shove. Citizenship will grant me the right to vote; another angle from which I can help shape the community (and world) I want to live in.

“People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing.” - Walter H. Judd

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*The grand finale will be the swearing-in ceremony a few months afterwards (fingers crossed).
**See comment for answers.