The power of a vow

Eric Cowperthwaite, who's comment on the prisoner treatment issue I remarked on below, offers his thoughts on the power of a simple oath that he has repeated four times in his life.

Years before I had read Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". When Juan Rico, the main character, takes the oath of enlistment he describes how the oath awed him, struck home with him. I had read that and thought it was mostly just part of the story.

Until I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution.

I swore that oath 3 more times.

And between the first time I said those words and the second I made damn sure I understood what I was swearing to support and defend. That quest, to understand the Constitution, was a big part of what started me down the road to my current set of political beliefs. More importantly, as I traveled that road of understanding, I came to realize something. I realized that those freedoms and liberties and rights I was swearing to uphold were to be protected whether I liked the individual consequences, or not.

Eric's enlistment afforded him a chance to accept the duties of service, and as he points out, of citizenship, in a formal and awe inspiring ceremony that shaped and strengthened both his understanding and commitment to the ideals from which the country was founded, and is still organized. Folks who become citizens as adults experience a similar moment. Not all who take such oaths are so deeply effected, but a great many are. Living in California I am privileged to know and work with many naturalized citizens, and have found that having made a "mature commitment" to the country, they understand and appreciate it better than many or most native-born Americans.

I wonder if we would benefit from some sort of citizenship ceremony to mark a young American's attainment of legal majority, similar to the "Confirmation" ceremony in some churches. Actually, let me rephrase the question. I have no doubt that we would benefit by it, the better question is whether we would tolerate it. This country is unique in that it is not founded on tribal or regional identity, but rather on a set of ideas and agreements defined in a document. A native-born American accepts these agreements implicitly when he or she accepts adult citizenship, though most don't give it much thought. Why not make explicit what is today implicit? As Eric says, a simple act can have a strong influence on a person.