One Of These Days, I’ll Make My Grandmother Proud
First off, before I begin any more of this, I want to address something that has come to my attention. I am the person that I am because of choices that I have made throughout my life. Granted, some of the more recent decisions that I have made have made more impact than others, but they were my decisions. I looked at how things were, made a decision based on how I felt, and moved on from there. If you think that I made a wrong decision - that is YOUR opinion and I wish you would keep it, as well as your thoughts, to yourself. I am happy with who I am…can you say the same? Quite frankly, I don’t care what you think of me. One day I might “come around”…but then again, maybe I won’t because I am happy with the decisions I’ve made and the person I have become. You and I both know who you are. Chew on that one for a while.
Now that I’ve gotten settled in here in Montana (or as settled as one can be after only a couple days here anyway!), I wanted to get back to the post I started the other day in which I was incensed about some things. Well…I’ll explain more clearly today what I’m frustrated about and will explain why it frustrates me.
Lately, there has been a lot of talk about immigration, illegal aliens and many other politically charged reasons to dislike those of us that aren’t Caucasian. Quite frankly, that not only confuses me, but also frustrates me. Here we are: a nation FULL of immigrants – a nation that raped, destroyed and stole a large majority of what we have (and continue to do so today) – a nation that continues to put its shoe on the neck of those that are trying to have the life we live. And yet…we call ourselves “great”. I say that’s a load of horse crap.
Do I feel that illegal aliens are wrong? Sure…but I wouldn’t go about bashing them and their way of life. Give them the opportunity to become Americans the legal way. Have them pay taxes and work…it’s a win-win situation. Don’t say that they are taking jobs away from Americans because the majority of the workers that are here illegally are doing jobs that none of us want to do. Do you want to put a sack of vegetables on your back hour after hour while you pick them? Do you want to cut up chickens at a processing plant? These jobs provide food on the table for both you and me…and if someone WANTS to do that job, I say let them.
I’ve been getting a bunch of emails from people lately dealing with illegal aliens and the like (it’s been several people, so please don’t think that I’m coming down you only you if you are one of the people that send that sort of thing). When an email is forwarded on, the reader will automatically assume that the sender believes what they wrote. Do you REALLY believe the things that are in the emails? If so, I feel sorry for you. I was taught that we were supposed to treat people the way we wanted to be treated. To treat people the RIGHT way. To treat people as EQUALS. This does not include belittling. This does not include ridiculing. This does not include a feeling “superior”ism. We are no better than anyone else.
One last thing real quick (as I’m sure I’ve upset some people): 90% of the time, the forwards that are sent out are based on fiction. There are many websites (http://www.snopes.com/ is great) out there that are devoted to debunking urban myths and legends. It takes 10 seconds to check, but in reality…if it sounds too idiotic to be true, it probably is.
In closing, the first paragraph of this post was targeted at just 2 people. I can say this here because I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that neither one of them would have made it through this post…and I’m sorry the rest of you had to read through it.
My aim is not to please anyone. My aim is to do the right thing…always. To do otherwise is a waste of time, a waste of energy and a waste of life.
posted by LaTech at 4:00 PM
5 Comments:
Thank you for saying the things that I've always wanted to say to those who continually think of themselves as elitists. Those narrow minded folks that feel that immigrants should not be allowed the same opportunities as most of our ancestors. I agree with your views. I, too have always strived to do the right thing and treat others as I would like to be treated...too bad some do not practice what they preach. I'm glad that you have a mind of your own and have the courage to stand up for your convictions. I think that you are a wonderful young man and I've enjoyed getting to know you again from your posts. Good luck to you and Groovy in Montana. I know that you'll do well.
Oh, you told them all right. Way to go.
Gracias por compartir tus ideas con las personas que leen este diario. Ciertamente, en America necesitamos entender las razones de la inmigracion y ayudar a educar al immigrante para beneficio de todos.
Tomasa
There's a whole mess of us who like you just the way you are, no matter if your opinions match ours or not.
This opinion? I totally agree with.
-Sun
Sorry, but I'll hop up on my little soap box for a second here, and I hope that the distain in this post is not directed at me. If it is, I'm more than open to talking about the ideas and possibly see it from your perspective, but here's my view...
Aren't there people still dying in Iraq? Aren't we still hopelessly dependent on oil (from other countries)? Aren't there people still without basic health care (while prices are skyrocketing) in this country? Why then is immigration such a hot topic? Because it plays on people's biases and it (hopefully for the current administration) wins elections. To tell you the truth, our nation’s dependence on foreign oil is a far greater concern to our national security than borders ($300 billion dollar war we are currently fighting for "mystery" WMDs). All that is beside the point really though, we already have good and fair laws dealing with immigration, they just aren't being enforced. Employers should be held responsible for hiring illegals. If that were the case, then there would be no jobs for them to take. The illegals who are here already should be fined or suffer some sort of penalty for entering this country illegally. If they claim to love this country and want to live here, then they should respect our laws (I'm not talking about being vindictive, but they should be punished, fair is fair, and that's all that I'm gonna say about that). To look at it from an economic standpoint, illegal immigration hurts the unskilled/semi-skilled immigrants already here far more than the average American, by driving down wages, particularly in certain sectors (like fruit picking or lawncare). Unfortunately with corporations off-shoring much of our more skilled labor positions to India and other countries (and the eroding of our more skilled labor positions for unskilled labor, i.e. underemployment), this is becoming more of an issue, but only because corporations are not being held accountable. Illegal immigration also hurts the illegal immigrant by limiting their opportunities to more skilled jobs and services that are available in English only. In order to share in the American dream, they should go through the naturalization process and learn the history and language in order to gain access to all that America has to offer; and any country that allows illegal immigration is creating a second-class society with little to no hope of upward mobility. About the guest worker program, this is the WORST idea that I’ve ever heard of!!! Look at the problems some of the other countries are having with their guest worker programs. It creates second-class citizens with limited rights. Employers could use extortion to force them to accept a pay cut or risk being fired and deported. As it stands now, the employer is at least a little culpable as well for hiring an illegal. Any modern, semi-civilized (notice “semi”) country that allows a second-class citizenry is asking for trouble (remember the Jim Crowe laws anyone?). This is simply history repeating itself, and the politicians are again raising a ruckus and trying to get re-elected (just like the “red-scare” during the McCarthy years). History is an excellent teacher, and viewing the current state of events through the eyes of history brings all of this into the right perspective. I blame the people in congress and government. I’ll save my anger and retribution, not for some poor immigrant looking for a better life, but for an elected official who is empowered by the people they represent to make this nation (and all of our lives) better, while they play political games with hot-button issues and enjoying expensive lunches and vacations with money from lobbyists. I’ll put my anger and outrage where it belongs; the people more interested in keeping their job than doing their job; the people enjoying lavish health care benefits and cushy retirement packages at the expense of the tax payer, for whom they accomplish very little. This country does have SERIOUS problems (as demonstrated by the great division in our country), but picking on one group of people to blame them on in order to get re-elected does nothing to solve them. I for one refuse to be a sheep, there are larger issues at stake, and the diverting of attention to immigration in order to get re-elected does little to solve them. I find myself convulsing with distain and disgust when I see images of elected officials offering themselves self-congratulatory praise while working on immigration legislation and ignoring the real problems facing this country. They should be forced to go out and get a real job!
That my $0.02. Please take it for what it's worth. I'm so exasperated that this is even an issue. I'm of course open to comments and criticism. I do not profess to be the authority on anything, and welcome the views and ideas of others, as long as they are open as well. Thank you for the soap box, and your time.
- Webmaster
That was actually going to be one of my points as well, webmaster: How is this situation any different or better than the one we were in 130 years ago? We have second-class non-citizens that do our work for little to no money! Hmm...that sounds familiar to me, and I'm not a history major!
Anyway, I would agree totally that there are FAR greater issues that need to be addressed by the government than this...but it was the topic that was pressing at that moment for me personally.
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