Skip to main content

An American

In this episode - An American . . .

"We will lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example." U.S. President, Joe Biden


Are you an American? Unlike many of you, my mother and I immigrated to the United States as French Citizens.

We were considered Aliens! How do I know that? Easy, every year we were required to go to our local Post Office and complete an Alien Registration Form.


Growing up in a small Midwestern town, like you, my formative school years were devoted to reading, writing, and arithmetic AND learning to speak English. Also, I vividly remember each morning reciting; "I Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America . . ."


As a Cub Scout, we also recited the scout motto; "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent."


Little did I realize at that time how those time-honored words and traditions would affect my work ethic, my character, my values, and my future.

As an immigrant, the pure joy of growing up in a free country allowed its people to become whatever they set their hearts and minds upon.

We witnessed America's birth of the Space Program, the explosion of technology that advanced communications, watched men walk on the Moon, the expansion of Television that brought the world into our homes. In many ways, it didn't seem real. It all seemed fabricated somehow. All viewed from a wooden box with a black tube.

I've always wondered, do children ever grasp the concept of what's real on TV and what's fabricated? Who knows?

All I know is, our community affected my childhood development much more than I realized during my formative years. I was becoming an American.

But for my family, there was another world outside that tiny neighborhood. The much larger world of La Rochelle, France, my mothers' town. That "other world" was proven when I uncovered the bundles of French handwritten letters my mother had treasured and kept to herself all those years.

As children, we would board a very large plane and make the trip back to France about every 5 years. Mom insisted on it. Dad however never returned to France after his military service ended.

We would step off the plane into the arms of her brother and his wife. To see her blossom and be free of that alien mask was an awakening for me. Unlike me or any other in our immediate family, her formative years were as a French citizen. 

However, it was 1974 when my mother and I both stood before a Judge and accepted the Oath of Citizenship to finally say, "We are Americans."

So, what did it mean to become an American?

Looking back now, it was an opportunity that no other country offers, the freedom to reinvent oneself whenever the need arose, and the security of living in a democracy that values the will of the people.

God bless America!

If you like our weekly visits, please share them with a friend.


I'm Patrick Ball; thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

Comments

Most Popular of All Time

We Need Awe More Than Ever

In this episode, Why We Need Awe More Than Ever Yesterday morning, I slipped into the cool stillness of my backyard before dawn. The air was crisp, the silence deep—broken only by the faint rustling of leaves and the familiar calls of birds waking early. Then I looked up. A thin crescent moon hung low in the east, with Venus just above it like a shining jewel. The sky was clear and full of stars, and for a moment, I felt something I hadn’t in a long time: Awe! For thousands of years, the heavens have carried on their steady dance, untouched by human noise. No ruler, no election, no breaking news has ever changed their rhythm. And yet here I was, tempted to reach for my phone—to trade the eternal for the urgent. Instead, I stayed. I watched the moonrise, the sky slowly lighten, and the world around me stir. Ducks passed overhead in a loose V, hummingbirds zipped past to visit their feeder, pausing mid-air as if curious about me sitting so still. Little by little, the static in my mind f...

The Birth of a Cubs Legend

In this episode, The 162-Game Exhale — and the Birth of a Cubs Legend There’s a hush in the baseball world on Game 162 — a collective breath drawn in and slowly released. Scoreboards stop flipping. Dugouts empty. For six months, the game has been our steady heartbeat, pulsing from the cherry blossoms of Tokyo in March to the crisp, playoff-charged winds of late September. And now, as the regular season exhales, baseball fans everywhere pause to absorb the story we’ve just lived. For me, that story has been deeply personal. This season unfolded in the rhythms of my daily life. It was the summer soundtrack echoing beneath the constant turmoil of politics and sensational headlines. It was a handful of carefully chosen ballpark pilgrimages stitched together with countless nights in front of MLB.TV. And at the center of it all, for a lifelong Cubs fan like me, it revolved around one name — a young center fielder who turned hope into history: Pete Crow-Armstrong. The 2025 season didn’t begin...

The Silent Grid–Part Two

In this episode, The Silent Grid – Part Two Sirens split the night as Greenwood went dark. Marvin knew instantly—the blackout wasn’t an accident. It was a warning. In this quiet town, where life once unfolded at a predictable pace, a sleek, intuitive smartphone—a so-called gift from the future —has arrived. But it’s no tool for connection. It’s a silent force, erasing individuality and turning neighbors into something less than human. Marvin Gellborn, a man who values independence, sees the truth. His device isn’t helping; it’s testing him, watching him, and quietly embedding itself into the life of Greenwood. Welcome back to On the Fly . In this week’s episode of The Silent Grid , GridBot tightens its grip. After a hopeful community gathering, Marvin and his robot companion, Norman, notice a troubling absence—the very generation they hoped to reach has vanished into the neon glow of The Signal Box , a youth tech hub pulsing with digital obsession. When Greenwood’s lights vanish, Marvi...

The Pessimism Aversion Trap

In this episode, The Pessimism Aversion Trap Picture this: a room full of bright minds nodding in agreement as a bold new strategy is unveiled. The slides are polished, the vision is grand, and the future, we're told, has never looked brighter. Everyone beams—because who wants to be the one to say, "Um… this might not work"? Heaven forbid someone spoil the mood with a dose of reality. Better to smile, add a buzzword or two, and march confidently toward disaster. That's how the Pessimism Aversion Trap works. Even now, I can still hear the sound—a high-pitched shriek and a digital hum, followed by the slow, rhythmic clatter of data pouring from a 5¼-inch floppy disk. It was the late 1980s, and my makeshift home office (our living room) was dominated by what felt like a marvel of modern engineering: a used Tandy 1000 PC with not one, but two floppy drives. To top it off, we purchased a 'blisteringly fast' 300-baud modem—which, for the uninitiated, could downloa...