A quadruple national?

I sent off my twenty-month-old son's application for Irish citizenship today. That will be his third nationality. He's also Australian and American. He's eligible for French citizenship through his paternal grandfather and I fully intend to apply for that too.

This nationality collecting has caused my single-national husband great amusement. It's caused consternation among his uber-patriotic family who don't understand why one would want to be anything but American. But to me it makes a great deal of sense. I am a triple national too.

It's been some time since I fully identified myself by one nationality. I was born in Australia and spent the first 27 years of my life there. My entire family is there. In many ways my heart is too. But ten years ago I left. Since then I've lived in New York and Africa. I've become an Irish citizen and an American. Work and leisure have taken me to 35 countries. My friends and colleagues come from all over the world.

I've long since felt a greater kinship with that band of international travelers who see the world as their home than I do with people of any particular nationality. When you view the world as your home you find it hard to hear "This country has the best healthcare," or "Americans are all uncultured imperialists". You understand that there are good and bad in all peoples and definitive statements are just stupid if you have no experience to back them up.

You are interested in the welfare of people everywhere, not just in your backyard. You are more concerned with the extraordinary suffering of Haitians or Congolese or Darfurians than keeping illegal immigrants out of your country.

So until we can have passports from the nation known as "the World" my son and I will collect as many as we can. At least when our US health insurance excludes us from coverage for a spurious pre-existing condition we'll have other options.