Proud to be an American

Today I went with a friend to support her in making what I consider to be a very foolish decision.  She surrendered her British passport to become a Botswana citizen.

It’s not that I am opposed to her becoming Motswana.  I’m totally fine with that.  But I am opposed to her losing her British citizenship.  Unfortunately, Botswana does not permit dual citizenship. If you want to become Motswana you must forfeit whatever previous nationality you claimed.

After travelling throughout Africa, and a large portion of the rest of the world, there is one thing I have discovered: Being an American is… PRICELESS!

I truly believe there is nothing quite so valuable as an American passport.  There have been countless times where I have arrived somewhere, flashed my U.S. passport and been waived right through.  In fact, a couple of times they haven’t even looked to verify my name or picture, they just see the navy blue passport cover with the gold lettering and U.S. Coat of Arms and tell me to keep on walking.

Of course, I have to admit, I do cheat a little.  As you can see I have a “Product of Botswana” sticker on the front of my passport.  This means I am doubly protected.  I’m not sure if that is actually true or not, but that’s my perception.  When I went to visit a greenhouse back in the spring (September) they were putting those stickers on the produce packages.  I lifted one and had nowhere to put it, except my passport.  It’s been there ever since.  The way I look at it, the American passport gets me preferential treatment almost anywhere.  When that fails, they see my “Product of Botswana” sticker, look at me quizzically and when I say, “I’m an African resident!” they smile and decide I’m harmless.

Regardless of where I live in the world I will always admit I am proud to be an American, and there is nothing tempting enough for me to give that up… EVER!