Homecoming

 "Breathes there the man with soul so dead 

who never to himself hath said:

"This is my own, my native land,"

whose heart hath ne'er within him burned

as home his footsteps he hath turned."

- Sir Walter Scott

 Will ye no come back again

This year has been designated as being "2009 Homecoming Scotland" and the red and the tartan carpets are out in Scotland and the bagpipes are playing for all Scots abroad and those of Scottish ancestry who will be making the pilgrimage. For various reasons I will not be going but I am always there in spirit.  Scots are romantic creatures who never forget where they are from and I have to include myself in that category. Each and every time I have returned to Scotland, as the plane descends, the wings bank and I glimpse the heather through layers of cloud I can not control my emotions as a big lump forms in my throat, my lips quiver and a flood of tears obscures my vision. This happens every time and there's just nothing I can do about it. Scotland is indeed a terrible place to be from. There's just no getting away from it. Scotland hounds the departed Scot night and day. Now that's not all that bad. Scotland made us who we are and continues to make us who we will become. If we can not forget the land that we sprang from we can and do learn to love and become dedicated to the land and the people of another country that has welcomed us to its shores. As an immigrant with dual nationality and not being born in the USA I don't feel any less American than had I been. I'm sure the same is true for native born Americans who also become citizens of the United Kingdom. However, while I can not imagine that it was necessary, I can understand why the United States, in the heat and tension of the moment, interned American  citizens of Japanese descent after the hierarchy war lords of Japan bombed  Pearl Harbor.