On Nov. 11 — Veterans Day — something wonderful is happening right here in Central Florida.
America is a nation built by immigrants. For millions of people throughout the world, America holds out the promise of freedom, dignity and basic human rights since modern humans first began wandering out of the African veldt and spreading throughout the globe.
It has only been in the past 300 years that these basic human rights have been widely embraced as such and codified in the historic document known as the U.S. Constitution.
The “American Experiment” begun by the Founding Fathers in the late 1700s stands today as the world’s paramount expression of those values of freedom and dignity.
On Nov. 11 — Veterans Day — immigrants from several nations will be naturalized as American Citizens. The event will take place at Celebration Golf Club south of Orlando, a sister club to Eagle Creek Golf Club right here in East Orlando.
Celebration is hosting a charity golf tournament on that day sponsored by the Combined Federal Campaign, an organization of U.S. government workers that each year raises millions of dollars to benefit charities worldwide.
This year, the CFC tournament will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization that aids severely injured service men and women.
As part of the event, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will ask several veterans — men and women who have already served this nation in its armed forces — to step forward and swear their allegiance to their new country.
And that’s a beautiful thing.