Citizenship

Today my attention rested on citizenship while I strolled the ruins of the Roman Paletino where Roman emperors lived about 2500 years ago.  The lasting buildings are a tribute to the design, materials and craftsmanship from ancient times.  Just below Palentine Hill is the Forum where citizens met for social, legal, political and commercial discourse.  I imagine that life for a citizen was pretty good.  For non-citizens: not so good.  I doubt that many citizens did the heavy lifting to build the grand structures.  That work was left to the non-citizens: slaves and freemen.

The ruins are just a shadow of the grandeur that was once Imperial Rome, but their concept of citizenship the model for many of our legal and political systems. So many quite literally fought to become Roman citizens, I was reminded of the significance of Lincoln who fought to give citizenship to all who were born in the US regardless of their race.

Today's debate is whether to build a "pathway to citizenship" for those who came here without permission which is a step beyond LIncoln's vision.  Much of Ancient Rome was build on the backs of non-citizens for the benefits of citizens.  I'm not sure that things are so different today.

This morning I began at the US Embassy to obtain a new passport.  Last night I had turned my room upside down and the hotel turned its offices upside down to find the passport, but to no avail.  

The Embassy is a grand palatial structure with Italian security.  There was a long line waiting to get in.  I went to the guard and said, "I am an American citizen and I've lost my passport."  He asked if I had a copy and when I produced it, I was quickly ushered into the Embassy.

One of the privileges of our citizenship is that when we are overseas and have a problem, it becomes a priority of the Embassy.  At home I am impressed by how little bureaucrats care about the people they serve.  In the Embassy I was impressed by exactly the opposite.  They quickly solved my problem, were completely kind and courteous.

It took about 90 minutes to get all the paperwork together, but I finally got a new passport.  I made my way back to the hotel and stopped at the front desk to pick up my key.  As I left, the clerk (who I had not seen before) said, "Oh, Mr. O'Toole.  Wait.  We have your passport."