I recently had an opportunity to take several taxi cabs rides in our Nation’s Capital. Each driver was an immigrant to this country. One was an elderly guy from Persia ,...not Iran, but Persia he stated emphatically. We talked about the events in Iran circa 1979 which brought the Islamic fundamentalists to power. This taxi driver was impressed that I understood a little of his Country’s history, but what was important was his perception of Americans. He told me that most American’s do not appreciate what opportunities and freedoms they have in this country. Boy, ain't he right!
I rode in another Taxi Cab with a young (maybe mid 20’s) Jamaican driver. Aside from his choice of music (rap) he was a pretty smart young man. He too said that young Americans squander their opportunity and don’t realize the things they take for granted that most countries wish to have.
And yet another Taxi Cab ride from an Ethiopian immigrant got me involved in a discussion on why the U.S. doesn’t secure it’s borders and arrest all the illegals and send them home. This conversation was on the morning after a Border Patrol agent was shot and killed by armed smugglers in Arizona, who as it turns out were Mexican Nationals. My driver thought it was a simple case of rounding up all the Mexicans and deporting them. I explained to this driver that we have constitutional rights and due process, and, that the law enforcement agencies have different levels of statutory authority and jurisdictions where local and state police do not routinely enforce or provide support for the enforcement of immigration laws and that racial profiling is illegal. He was perturbed, as you and I are, that the Federal government doesn't do more to secure the borders.
Damn shame where immigrants are much more grateful of this Country and it's opportunities than the people living here are.
Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteGood Post. The majority of Americans don't have a clue what is going on outside of their neighborhoods, much less across town. So we can't expect them to understand world events unless some political hack or liberal professor is trying to empress them with their supposed world knowledge. As you and I have traveled the world, we know how good we have it and believe the fight is worth it to keep what we have. I sure wish the American people would stop listening to all the political and liberal junk and actually sit down and read some of our nations history for themselves. I had a very good discussion with my son this fall semester (2010). He didn't realize that some of the stuff his history professor was spewing was a twisted outlook on our nations history. With very little research and much discussion, I helped him set his professor straight on a couple of items. BTW he got an 'A' for the class. Just makes/re-enforces my belief that the teachers don't even know our history and why and how this nation was truly build. Yet they are responsible for teaching our children. Our nation is in a hurt locker my friend.