Thoughts on Independence Day

Everyone in America is from somewhere else.  Back in the day, it used to just be European colonists, but now we have people from China, Japan, India, Russia, South America and a host of other smaller nations.  From the 1600’s until now, people have been coming here to make a better life for themselves, to  find opportunities that didn’t exist at home, to escape political persecution, and to escape communism, tyranny and despotism. 

I really can’t blame all of the Mexican people that are trying to flee their country to come to the Disneyland of the world, the United States, especially when we’re within walking distance.  They are just trying to do what all Americans before them have done and that is to make a better life for themselves and their families.  There is a lot of talk about how to control the southern border which seems to be a gargantuan task if you ask my opinion.  What should be done about it?  It’s too big a question for me.  It’s definitely something that needs to be debated wisely and judiciously with the best of our best to come to some kind of decision through the political process.

Side bar.  I think of my wife’s grandfather.  He came here in the early 1960’s from Australia.  In conversations with him, it came down to the fact that he didn’t think he could make a good living in Australia due to lack of opportunity, the societal set up, or the existing business climate.  He felt England would be much the same, so he decided on the states.  There are interesting behaviors to all first generation immigrants.  I’ve noted with my wife’s family and with many Mexican families that I know that the first generation clings very strongly to their heritage.  I think of it as being the stranger in a strange land.  It is self evident in many of the big cities that used to and still do have strong Italian, Greek, Russian, Irish neighborhoods.  Complete assimilation of first generation immigrants is not impossible but definitely improbable.

From first hand experience, the children of immigrants are definitely Americanized due to the schooling process and the friendships they develop.  I always find it interesting with my wife, when I say a little anecdote or limerick that is truly American and she has never heard it.  How can that be?  It’s due to the disconnect between what is being learned during the day at school and the discussions at the family dinner table at night.  The assimilation is almost complete.  Now, when you get to my children, there is total assimilation.  They are as American as someone whose family has been here for generations.  The country their grandparenst are from is a distant country like Ireland or France is to me.

There is a lot of complaining amongst us and in the media about the U.S.-Mexico border and the illegal aliens walking into the states everyday.  All we can do is blame ourselves for our lack of effort, decisiveness and decision making in these matters.  Can we really control a thousand mile long border where most of it is in a desert wasteland?  and to what expense?  Is this really what we’re about?

Maybe we should be a little more welcoming, get these people Americanized and assimilated faster than the third generation.  We should promote citizenship.  Just think, once they’re signed up, you can take their fingerprints, get them a social security number and tax the crap out of them like the rest of us!

So next time you interact with an immigrant, tell them the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree or Abe Lincoln reading books by lantern light or an anecdote from Mark Twain.  The only way they can learn about us, is if we tell them.

Happy 4th of July!

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