Citizenship in Sydney

My sister in Law, a Doctor called Luisa, had her citizenship ceremony the other evening before my operation. We went along to support her and I was again reminded of the great blessings and freedoms this country provides. Whilst there were a 100 people there becoming Australian citizens, this is the fourth such ceremony I have attended and enjoyed the experience. Apart from the speeches that accompany such ceremonies like this, the peoples faces when they receive their certificates is humbling. There are occasional tears, but loads of smiles as people are officially recognised as citizens of Australia.

I became a citizen of Australia some years ago, I felt then and continue to feel so now, that this country has been very good to me and I believe it was a natural progression to more appropriately pledge my allegiance to this great land. In doing so it was acknowledged at the ceremony the other night, that you are not required to give up your heritage of birth, but more appropriately be adopted into a land which will extend the same freedoms and rights that those who are born in this country enjoy.

I really like the racial mix this country has. I love the variety of foods that are influenced from a world cuisine, I love the differences of opinion we can find on any street in this country.

Occasionally we see the down side of generational ideologies or prejudice from previous national experience seep into the thinking of people now located in Australia, but it is very small and very isolated.

I am very grateful to have been raised in Australia and for the most part having been raised in schools mixing with Greeks, Italians, Yugoslavians, Serbians, Croats, Poles, Turks, Koreans, Armenians, Arabs, Russians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Chinese, New Zealanders and of course home grown Aussies. I have developed a great respect for peoples from many nations around the world here and ultimately believe that we all mostly want the same or at worst similar things.

With so many things the country needs to fix, and with so many challenges ahead of us, I still think it is truly a great nation in spite of the difficulties, and who knows there may have even been people at the ceremony I attended the other night that may have some of the solutions to the challenges that we have.