From a post by myself over at Boar’s Head Tavern; a response to a racial discrimination conversation.
Hi, my name is Kent. I’m an American guy from the state of Minnesota. My wife and I are trying to adopt a little girl from a place called China. We’re like a lot of other infertile couples; we just want a family. To some people we probably won’t look like a family because we won’t look alike. But we’ll be a family. I’m going to teach my daughter a lot about the country she came from, but mostly I’m going to teach her how to become an American. I’m pretty sure that sometime when I’m holding her we’ll compare the color of our skin; and I’m pretty sure hers will be darker than mine.
In what seems a long time from now we’re going to fly to China to pick her up. I’m planning to weep three times, but it might be more than that. I’m planning to weep when I first find her in my arms; I’m planning to weep when I’m standing on American soil in China getting her a passport and starting her on her journey to becoming an American; and I’m planning to weep when our plane lands in America.
I’m looking forward to all of this because it will remind me about what it means to be American; and because it will be a great story to tell my daughter so that she will know how she became an American. Some of us became Americans because we decided to, others because someone decided for us. I’m going to teach my daughter what it means to be an American so that she’ll understand why I’ll make this decision for her.
