Becoming an American!

Yesterday I had the privilage of watching 30 people from 11 nations become American Citizens…. It was quite an honor. I usually find out after the fact that someone became a citizen…

A client of mine has been married to an American for 15 years. She is an educated and articulate woman. She took the test last month. Her husband had a very important business meeting and it seemed too important an event to attend alone…. Even if the attendee was your real estate agent…. So I went…. It was wonderful to see the pride of these 30 new Americans as they took the oath of office…

Oath of Citizenship Dec. 1, 2011 Boise, ID

My client/friend….(many of my clients become my friends) was very happy to see me. She thought she would be all alone. She was very nervous. The ceremony took around 20 minutes… The actual ceremony was quick…. The judges remarks were a bit long and I didn’t think to the point.

So many of us take our rights and obligations of citizenship for granted. We live in the greatest country in the world. We are really FREE….

We have the freedom to disagree with our government. To pray or not pray as we like. We can disagree politically without coming to blows. We are free to flag wave. We are free to protest. Our Facebook isn’t monitored or restricted. We can strive for success.

Yes, there are problems but I can honestly say I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN…. I am very lucky to have become a citizen at birth. I haven’t had to flee violence, hunger or oppression. I have always been free to express my opinion. Heck, I even ran for Congress.

Flag

I am saddened that so many of our citizens don’t VOTE… Some of these 30 new Americans didn’t have the right to vote in their natal countries. Some of them lost relatives to war and famine. Some were under evil dictators….Some of them spent time in refugee camps… It is an obligation of every citizen to become informed and VOTE their conscious.

Signed Debbie Holmes, Citizen, Mom, former Democratic Nominee for the House of Representatives, Real Estate agent , scientist.

Consumerism…. I think we lost the battle….war…Black Friday in the wee hours….

I am sort of a politician….I take my stands….My last stand has been published in a local paper…  My stand wasn’t political….Or at least I don’t think so….I think for the most part stores should be closed on major holidays….We really don’t need to shop on Thanksgiving or Christmas….We don’t need to shop in the middle of the night….Here is a copy of my letter….

I also happen to have a housemate who is in her 40’s and a graduate student….She needs money….She has a temp job at Macy’s….  After I wrote the letter I learned that she had to be at work at 4 AM on black Friday…  Apparently Macy’s decided to open at midnight…She doesn’t drive so guess who had to wake up early to take her…

As a approached the Boise town Square Mall I was hoping it would be empty….I wanted this to fail big time….Alas…The traffic picked up as I approached the Mall…..  I couldn’t park my car if I wanted to…It was 4 AM and Boise was obviously shopping….I am very disappointed….Not only was I disappointed I spent the day tired because of my early rising…..I am proud to say I didn’t shop until 6 PM and only because my kid needed snow boots before he went back to college.

I really don’t have anything against Black Friday (as long as it starts at 6 AM)….I just was going to stick to my guns today….

If we want to control our own destiny we need to control our lives and our spending habits….Yes there were some very good deals that ended at 1 PM….  Some people had been camping out all through the Thanksgiving holiday….I like eating my Turkey around the dining table with my family….Or nut-loaf if you are a Vegetarian…

It was greed on the banks, wall street and the consumer that led to the recession (depression?) that we are in…. I know they say we need to spend our way out of it….But maybe we should get JOBS in our COUNTRY….BUY things made in the USA (that also might help create jobs)…And not SPEND more then we can AFFORD… Let us all take control of our Destiny.

Tomorrow I will start showing houses again in the Boise…. I will write offers and counter-offers….I will work my listings…Today I will take off until my middle SON gets on his plane and leaves us again…. Tomorrow perhaps I will write about how buying a house helps your LOCAL ECONOMY….

 

 

 

 

  Debbie Holmes

Gold Key Real Estate    

(208)761-2551 Email: d5holmes@msn.com

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