Tuesday, March 28, 2006

I wasn't going to post today...

I promised myself I'd be in the gym by noon. It's 17 'til...

The fearmongers are at it again; I wrote the following as a comment, then decided to "bring it home":


"Somehow the irony of people whose ancestors all came from somewhere else and took the land from those who lived here first deciding that no one else should be able to come here has always fried me!

Then there's that Lady in the harbor in New York who has "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses" written on her...

That there are people in this world who are so desperate to get ahead that they will pay someone to lock them in a shipping container for a month or month and a half with a bit of food and a couple of 55 gallon barrels of water (to be reused for other things as they are emptied) and risk suffocation; that they will pay someone to lock them in a trailer in the hot sun in the desert; that they will risk everything to drive a pickup from Cuba to Florida or walk across the desert means that these are people who are driven to do something to improve their lives and those of their families. They are the kind of people this country needs instead of the ones like me who have so much and do so little with it..."

I am a proud "Heinz 57". I know I have French and Irish, and Native American blood flowing through my veins. Though our family history doesn't acknowledge it, I know there is African blood in there as well. Somwhere along the way I am sure there are lots of others as well!

On occasion I look at the arbitrary lines we draw on maps and wonder what gives us the right...yes I know we need civil codes to live by and means to enforce them, but still; Iraq was created out of the remains of 3 countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire by a bunch of guys sitting around a table after WW1. The people in these countries had never gotten along, had different religious and language identities, etc.. Yet in our wisdom we threw them all together and said "you're a country now, get along and play nice".

They've never gotten along, and until the "little green men" are hovering over the major national capitals in their "flying saucers", they never ever will! Of course, all we'll have to do is explain to them they are "illegal aliens" and I'm sure they'll fly right back to the mother ship or the home planet!

Nothing unites people like the fear of some outside force coming to "get them" or "take something" from them...

11:54...gotta go!

alan

11 comments:

Mystical Me said...

Great post!! Take care sweety & thanks for the comment.
Love always, MM XOXO

b o o said...

i have very sporting ancestors as well. i r back :)

sttropezbutler said...

Very well said...as usual Alan.

STB

robin andrea said...

You said it, Alan. Hard to imagine we are in the 21st century still having these conversations. It's one planet, that's all we've got. Can't we do it any better than this? Why is it that the ones in power are always the ones who keep things the way they are? We need a global revolution and a consciousness raising that will put these old ways of seeing the world finally to rest.

Lois Lane said...

Good post!

alan said...

Sometimes I get "wound up" and "go off" then spend hours in fear that I'm wrong, that I'm going to upset the people I care about, etc.. Thank you for the reassurance that I'm not just some loon!

You have all really made my day!

alan

Dr. Deb said...

I agree, GREAT post.

Mystical Me said...

I have anew blog babe come check it out when you have a chance. Take care, MM XOXO

RED QUILT MAKER said...

Let's see...17 til noon. That's 11:43, right. At 11:54 you "gotta go". It took me longer than that to figure out this comment.
Damn, you're good!
Good post too Mister.
rQm

Nancy said...

You are so right on here Alan! Well said my friend!

Taradharma said...

Alan,
you're not a loon at all...just the opposite. I feel the same: if someone risks their life to come here then they deserve to be here -- and they'll make us a better place! For all the craziness between the cultures here, we really do have more diversity than any other country on the planet.