Another Personal Editorial

New Immigrants

OK, so I'm just passing this along.....

Maybe we should turn to our history  books and point out to people like Mr.  Lujan why today's American is not  willing to accept this new kind of  immigrant any longer. Back in 1900  when there was a rush from all areas  of Europe to come to the United States,  people had to get off a ship and stand  in a long line in New York and be  documented. Some would even get down on their  hands and knees and kiss the ground.  They made a pledge to uphold the laws  and support their new country in good  and bad times. They made learning  English a primary rule in their new  American households and some even  changed their names to blend in  with their new home. Some would even get down on their hands  and knees and kiss the ground. They made  a pledge to uphold the laws and support  their new country in good and bad times.  They made learning English a primary rule in theirnew American households and  some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They had waved goodbye to their birth  place to give their children a new life and  did everything in their power to help their  children assimilate into one culture.  Nothing was handed to them. No free  lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to  protect them. All they had  were the skills and craftsmanship they had  brought with them to trade for a future of  prosperity. Most of their children came of age when   World War II broke out. My father fought  along side men whose parents had come  straight over from Germany, Italy,  France and Japan. None of these   1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents  had come from. They were Americans  fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United  States of America as one people. When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French  American, the German American or the  Irish American. The people of France  saw only Americans. And we carried  one flag that represented one country.  Not one of those immigrant sons would   have thought about picking up another  country's flag and waving it to represent  who they were. It would have been a  disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed  so much to be here. These immigrants truly  knew what it meant to be an American.  They stirred the melting pot into one  red, white and blue bowl. And here we are with a new kind of  immigrant who wants the same rights and  privileges. Only they want to achieve it by  playing with a different set of rules, one  that includes the entitlement card and a  guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an  American is all about. I believe that the  immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in  the early 1900's deserve better than that  for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice  in raising future generations to create a  land that has become a beacon for those  legally searching for a better life. I think  they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving  foreign country flags.    And for that suggestion about taking  down the Statue of Liberty, it happens  to mean a lot to the citizens who are  voting on the immigration bill.  I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.