On my mind today: On October 28, 1886, on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated, complete with the inscription: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ... Approximately fifty years before that dedication, my forefather immigrated into the United States from Scotland, by way of Canada. What I know of him indicates he was poor. He came from a country where, as in Ireland, many were starving. He was allowed to enter the United States without question. He was allowed to buy land in Brown County, Illinois - indeed, the very same plot of land that was in the McPhail family for generations. He was allowed to live and work as his conscience dictated. His sons fought (and one died) in the Civil War. His descendents served in the United States military. The generations who followed him, while not always perfect, worked to support their families and improve their lives. Today we included lawyers, artists, physicists, educators. I dont know who got the better end of the deal: my family or a genuinely welcoming nation whose ideal is represented in New York Harbor. But I do know this: the Constitution of the United States of America is still intact and no executive amnesty was ever requested or required. Maybe something to think about.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 02:47:07 +0000
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