"Drunken with Opportunity"

Subtitle: Another analogy that may or may not work, depending on how my warped thoughts are like yours.
            Yesterday I had the opportunity to accompany a delegation of 8th and 9th graders from my school to a naturalization ceremony. The ceremony included a typical patriotic opening program with an elementary school group singing the national anthem and performing well-rehearsed commentary about famous American heroes. My school’s students led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance and read two original essays about what it means to be an American. Then the city mayor spoke for a few minutes. It was predictably lovely.

            After the 457 participants had renounced their previous citizenship and had sworn allegiance to the United States of America, the officiating judge had the new citizens stand by continent to show the representation (80 countries) to the rest of the audience in the hall. He then let each who desired, to share a short comment with the audience. Most simply stated their name, where they came from originally, and a part of their story or some of their feelings. Speakers included war refugees, foreign exchange students who never went home, parents of children born in the country who already had citizenship, even a former federal judge who had been exiled from his own country for some of his rulings just to describe a few. I found myself fascinated by their stories.

            There was one woman from sub-Saharan Africa, who, while struggling with her English haphazardly invented or coined a phrase that stuck in my head. And like a three-year-old attached to his father's leg when he's late for work, it pulled at my brain all the way home and all through the night; and it still pulls at me when I stop to think about it.

            She said, “I feel drunken with opportunity,” and then went on to narrate her educational experiences since arriving in this country. Now, her inexpert word play may have seemed like funny phrasing to those listening, but I feel she struck a treasure trove of truth with that simple statement.

            Her exuberant speech and excitement revealed the obvious buzz she was riding as she spoke of her new-found freedoms and opportunities that did not exist for women in her native country. Her educational opportunities alone made her a little tipsy. No one with a soul could begrudge this woman her giddiness.

            And then I began to think about the opportunities that I have enjoyed for my entire life. I thought about growing up in a military family. Do I take the time to drink in deeply from the different opportunities that I have to choose from? Those thoughts are still jumbled.

            (So, here’s where the philosophical analogy begins. Heh heh.) Are there some that are so inebriated by the blessings in their lives that they don’t even recognize which way is up? In other words, how many of us are soused by success and excess that we stumble through life as big, brash drunks, believing that the world revolves around us?

            Not being one to personally imbibe, I don’t know how far to take this metaphor, but I think it can work. Well, at least for my limited experience it does. As a citizen of the United States, and of the world, I have a responsibility to monitor my consumption of life’ joy and the intoxication that follows and make sure that I drink responsibly from the opportunities that are around me, careful not to get to pissed or punchy. I need to surround myself with family and friends who can help me know when I’ve thrown back enough, regardless of how well I think I can hold life’s liquor. Humility and a good night’s sleep does wonders.

            Now I know I’ve carried this way too far away from what this beautiful woman meant, but her speech made me realize again how richly I have been blessed in this life. I have a family, friends, and a God who love me and tolerate me, even at my worst. I have an education that grows and expands equivalent to the efforts I make. I have talents and interests and hobbies and the ability to choose how I pursue them. Indeed, I am “drunken with opportunities.” My plea, I guess, is for all of us—fellow citizens—to (1) help buy a round of opportunity for those who may not have any, and (2) to not make drunken fools of ourselves, with a reciprocal agreement to hand over the keys when it’s become too much. Too many mistakes (of all varieties) are made when people are drunk. (Hiccup.)

P.S. Then we went to the capitol, where I witnessed some partaking of opportunity in excess.