The Overthinker's Journal

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Eighteen years ago this week, I entered into federal service with these words. I wanted to express some thoughts on my oath.

These are not just meaningless words to say.

I don’t bow to a king, and I certainly don’t salute a dictator. There is no person who I declare my loyalty to.

Instead, I defer to the Constitution, a document that is the tangible representation of the ideals of this grand American experiment almost 250 years in the making.

I promise, in front of not only my coworkers and supervisors, but even to my own personal Creator, to uphold the very core of what this nation was founded upon.

I swear to protect it at all costs.

I pledge to do this, not for my own self-benefit, but for the purpose of sustaining and striving towards a more perfect union.

I pray we never forget that.