Most people know where they are from. They can name off a country, a state, and a city. Most people also know where their ancestors came from. People are proud of where their ancestors lived. They may speak the language, follow customs, or visit. But they also know they are American. They know that their ancestors left their home country and immigrated to the United States. People understand their great-great-grandparents were just looking for a better life. These people have heard the trials and tribulations of the generations that came before them. These same people are also proud that their family had a hand in making America what it is. Our country was founded by people that left their home, everything they had ever known, to follow the promise of a better life. After all, America is the melting pot of cultures.
And we pride ourselves on that. Oh yes sir we do. We pride ourselves on the idea that anyone could have come to America in search of a better life. Potato famine got your country down? Come on over! Opressive government not giving you your rights? Hey ours was founded on the priciples of freedom and justice! Just hop on the next ship leaving for America and in a few short months, all the riches and opportunity of our country could be yours.
But is it still that way? Do we still welcome people who only want a better life with open arms? Or do we put up barbed wire fences and stick guards in towers with guns? The way Americans view immigration is interesting. On one hand we pride ourselves on our immigrant beinging. The stories of people coming to this country with only the clothes on their back and not even two pennies to rub together. On the other hand, it's a problem. People are immigrating to the U.S. illegally. But not everyone.
As most stories go, immigrants have always had it tough. They normally didn't speak the language, have very much money, or were very well educated. But in the stories America choses to remember, people always overcome those obstacles. Now the same principles are true, except we have made immigrants the enemy. They are the people stealing the jobs we are too above to take. They are the people using the healthcare we can't afford to have. And they are the people, who a few generations ago, were just like us.
America is a great country, but we have a short memory. We find it so easy to forget where we were not too long ago. We need to remember one of the things we so pride ourselves on, and not forget that should still be possible for others.
What a great post. I really enjoyed reading it. I completely agree. On everything. The united states has forgotten its beginnings, its roots. I suppose since I'm a immigrant myself, I can tell you that it is so hard seeing others strive to achieve the glories and riches that this country's generations have already achieved AND are unwilling to share in the United States dream. It's like you said, immigrants take the jobs that are left, but they are just jobs to help take care of the family that was brought over for a better life. The only thing that bothers me is...how do you think this will be overcome. Just a few months ago the Dream Act wasn't passed; denying thousands of illegal students to go to college. These are students that were two or three when they arrived to the states, they went to elementary, middle, and high school just like the rest of us. They wanted to go the next step in their career, but the chance for a new life denied them this. So I ask again...how could this ever be changed???
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