Last Saturday afternoon I was teaching a class in SFH when I saw a man, woman and small child walk by the classroom. Nobody seems to be here on Saturday afternoons unless they are lost, so I expected to see them again soon. I had a speaker in my classroom at the time, so when a student working in the Center for Professional Studies came to my room to tell me that there was a family here and they don’t know where they need to be, I could easily leave.
I found out quickly that they were Martin and Maria with their son Jesus. The parents were here to find in advance where the ceremony that will make them American citizens will take place. They didn’t want to get lost Wednesday morning and then be late for this.
I pointed out the Franciscan Center to them. (thanks to whomever sent all the emails leading up to this.) They looked at that building and the rest of the campus from that spot in front of SFH on a really nice day and you would have thought they were seeing heaven. They tried to explain to Jesus what was going to happen in a few days, but the boy seemed just as happy to look at something on the ground. They were so pleased to hear that Sisters lived and taught here, and Martin told me that he thought Lourdes was a very large campus, certainly bigger than BGSU. They are from near Defiance and had some familiarity with Bowling Green I guess. I was sorry to dispel that thought for him, but it didn’t seem to diminish anything much. I wish I could describe their mood and spirit at that time of anticipation, but I could never do it justice. It was a great encounter for me, I am grateful to have met them.
I decided then to attend the Naturalization myself on Wednesday. If this is such a huge deal to people, I should be there. I didn’t foresee that it would be a huge deal to me as well.
As almost all of you business students know, my parents were born in the old country. Both are gone now, and I am embarrassed to admit that I don’t know anything about their naturalization. That hole in my background really hit me hard as I saw the 78 people about to take their oath. How could I not know every detail? I should be able to recall stories. What was it like? How did they feel? Where was it? Did it happen this same way? I got a little panicky and I feared them slipping further away from me.
I thought “You dope! Why did you come here today? Was it just to make yourself feel rotten?”
A pretty great thing happened to me then. As the soon-to-be-citizens walked into the theater two by two, I caught sight of Martin. He was wearing a nice suit and a red tie, and he and Maria were beaming. He saw me at the same time and waved from across a small distance. Then he got out of line to come and shake my hand and I got to wish them well before he had to reassume his position next to his wife. We went into the theater and just about the time one of our students read the Emma Lazarus poem “The New Colossus” which is on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty I realized that I actually felt closer to my mom and dad then. It was as if I was able to see them in Martin and the rest of these excellent people. Just like my folks did, they want a better life and they want it here. I guess it didn’t matter anymore when and where it happened for my parents. It matters why it happened. Those stories I know all about and I know I won’t forget them.