My America: E pluribus unum - Out of many, one
By Dr. Arif Ahmad
"To all general purposes we have uniformly been one people; each individual citizen everywhere enjoying the same national rights, privileges, and protection." - John Jay writing for The Federalist Papers, 1787
"The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world." - James Madison, 1829.
Constitution of United States, Bill of Rights, Amendment I: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Where our French Lady Liberty greets the Greek Giant Atlas and the Peaceful Sea surfs the white sand, where the Sapphire Blue Skies stretch over the Emerald Great Lakes and the Father of Waters dances the Spread of Stars and Stripes, where the Bald Eagle soars high over the Expanse of The King's Dream, is a Nation like none else, Out of Many, One, My America.
From George Washington's "American Character" to Abraham Lincoln's "better angels of our nature" to Woodrow Wilson's "free will of independent people" to John Kennedy's "my fellow Americans", In God we trust and mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor such that for Theodore Roosevelt "a wrong to any one of us is a wrong to all the rest of us."
The land of the free and the home of the brave, where we the people pursue life, liberty and happiness with freedoms of speech, expression and worship, without want or fear, and with respect for the rights and beliefs of others, only to bring home Thanksgiving every year.
The Government of the people, by the people, for the people, with checks and balances by separation of powers and the Rule of Law, one Nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Always renewing, always rebirthing, always rejuvenating, a land of opportunity, a land of immigrants with diversity of its cultures and its people with perfect equality of rights and where heterogeneity breads ingenuity and dreams have a habit of coming true.
From the Emancipation Proclamation to the Thirteenth Amendment and through the Civil Rights Movement, always trying to form a more perfect union, always striving to better the ideals of men, you may love it or care not, but you cannot deny it for what it is; the leader of the free world, a superpower deserving, a great hope of the human race, the United States of America.
- Dr. Arif Ahmad, Verona, is a cardiologist at Monroe Clinic. His writings can be found online at www.arifahmadmd.blogspot.com.
On any given day, he worked alongside other immigrants, from the Middle East to the Philippines, and Americans with diverse backgrounds. But together, they shared a common passion for the medical profession.
"That is infectious," said Ahmad, 49. The diversity he has experienced in his own life - from his early schooling by Irish missionaries in Lahore to working at a rural hospital in "the last town before Michigan" in northern Wisconsin - has made him who he is. Likewise, he said, diversity has made America.
"That diversity that has gone into me is what is unique about us (Americans)," he said. "I think that is our greatest strength."
Ahmad, now a cardiologist at Monroe Clinic, became a U.S. citizen this summer with his wife and their 23-year-old son, a student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. They were sworn in during a ceremony in Milwaukee with 70 other new U.S. citizens representing 35 home countries. The couple's 17-year-old daughter, a senior at Middleton High School, was born here and already a citizen.
In honor of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day - today, Sept. 17 - The Monroe Times is running an essay, a "tribute adopted and inspired" by American history, that Ahmad wrote. (See sidebar)
Ahmad regularly writes philosophical essays and poetry on his blog The Optimist, arifahmadmd.blogspot.com. He reflects mostly on being Muslim and on his "two loves," Pakistan and the United States, both of which he also isn't afraid to criticize.
His path to citizenship was a lengthy process involving several steps. He worked at a rural hospital in Niagara, a town of about 1,600 on the Menominee River, as part of a requirement that he perform medical work in an underserved area, "where other doctors wouldn't want to go."
He ended up falling for Wisconsin and the Midwest.
"I liked the quieter ambiance of the Midwest," he said. He's been at Monroe Clinic since 2005. He lives with his family in Verona but keeps a 50-acre prairie farm near Barneveld where he enjoys hunting.
His interest in U.S. history - early documents, preeminent speeches, geography - blossomed as he studied for his citizenship exam.
"There were some words, some phrases, that were very inspiring," he said. He liked in particular the idea behind "e pluribus unum": "out of many, one." To him, it exemplified what sets the U.S. apart from other countries in terms of freedoms and rights.
"This is still the best place to live on the planet, hands down," he said.
He takes issue with Russian president Vladimir Putin's recent assertion, in a New York Times editorial about U.S. actions against Syria, that it "is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation."
"I agree with some of his points," Ahmad said, but on this point, he doesn't. When it comes to the rights and freedoms afforded Americans, "in a way, we are special." With each new wave of immigrants to the U.S., "we keep rebirthing, we keep attracting the cream of the world." Genetically and culturally, he said, this heterogeneity makes the U.S. faster, smarter and stronger.
And yet, when he's performing surgeries, he also sees firsthand how "all the hearts are the same, all the blood is the same, all the anatomy is the same."
It reminds him of a photo taken in July by the NASA spacecraft orbiting Saturn. In it, our planet appears as a gnat-sized speck of blue.
Ahmad thinks of that photo often. Ultimately, he concludes, "we're just a dot in the universe."