Fingerprints

I had to have my fingerprints taken yesterday. No... I wasn't in the pokey; hadn't stolen anything; no mug shot. I had to have my fingerprints taken for my State of Oregon Insurance license and for my securities licensing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for my new job as an associate with WFG.

Why am I still thinking about this, more than 24 hours and two toddler-filled evenings later? I think the experience took me back nearly twenty years ago to the first time I was ever fingerprinted, when the Warren Family completed our paperwork to emigrate to this country... December 20, 1986. In short, it was a terrifying experience for my innocent and ignorant 11-year-old self. I had never been so surrounded by all sorts of different people speaking all sorts of different languages. The physical examination (performed on every member of the family) was particularily horrifying. I also distinctly remember our parents' requests to keep silent in the interview. We're law-abiding citizens and I'm sure we didn't do anything out of sorts in the eighteen months that had lapsed between the time we applied for immigration and the time we were actually granted our application. But my 8-year old brother and I were, as I recall, threatened within an inch of our lives to keep our lips sealed. For several hours. Do you have any idea how hard that is for a horrified 11-year old? It was almost like we were in jail-- kept in a waiting room for 8 hours until it was our turn, examined like prisoners for (I presume) disease and ill-health, quieted and intimidated in the cubicle-style office with bad lighting. And the fingerprints... one of which I still carry today on my Greencard.

Obviously, the experience is still fresh in my memory. Many of the details have been repalced by Stuff I've Learned Since, but the nuances remain. I don't particularily want Cameron to go through this, but I know he must when I apply for his Canadian Citizenship in the coming months. I vow to do it when he is at an age where he can't remember, can't relive the experience.