Probably the hottest, most controversial issue, bar none, is illegal immigration, which apparently forced Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina to shout out “You Liar!” when President Obama said that illegal immigrants would not be able to get health care coverage under the legislation being considered in Congress.
People get totally incensed whenever the subject of illegals comes up. I personally have seen gritted teeth, red faces, and the rise of tempers on this subject, not only on television and cable, but also personally.
The thought that illegals are here most likely for greater life opportunities; that ninety nine percent of them cause no problems in relation to crime; that it is business people who recruit and exploit them for their own profit; that the illegals are often the hardest, most dedicated workers there are in this country, and sacrifice daily without complaint; that these people fill millions of low wage jobs no one in this country is willing to do because of the lowered work ethic; that we as a country actually benefit from these illegal workers and don’t care how much they are victimized; that so many cases occur of them being the victims of crime themselves from citizens who seem to think they don’t even have basic human rights–somehow very few Americans are willing to face the truth and look in the mirror and realize we are guilty of horrible mistreatment of people who in almost all cases are no threat to us.
Instead, the idea is: Imagine the nerve that these people want their children to have education, but of course, if they are allowed to remain out of school and on the streets, then we will have much bigger problems long term. And do we really want to say that illegals should be allowed to bleed to death and spread disease rather than provide health care, especially emergency aid?
Do we HATE these people so much that we wish them dead? Do we wish that they be treated as slaves or animals? Actually, if you left it up to most people, they would treat animals better than human beings, as we hear about ethical treament of animals (PETA), but do not hear much about ethical treatment of people. Particularly, this is so if they LOOK different than us or speak a different language. That apparently makes them “scum”, less value than the life of an animal.
And the most venom seems to come from supposedly “religious” people who do not practice the tenets of the faith they profess. In other words, they mouth the words of religion that promote caring about one’s fellow man, but don’t practice it. This is hypocrisy at an extreme scale for those who claim to be “good” religious people.
Understand that there ARE religious people who DO practice what they preach, and they are to be commended and admired. But before we continue to promote hate and resentment, we need to look in the mirror and say: YES, no one should come in illegally, but MOST of those who do, while we should not give them favoritism over legal immigrants for citizenship, we need to realize that as long as they do not become involved in criminal activity, and as long as they meet the requirements of working and contributing and follow the rules further back in the so called “line” to achieve citizenship over time, accept the fact that they ARE contributing to America and should be treated with dignity, rather than our wrath.
And finally, let’s realize another thing: Are you personally sure that all your ancestors who came to this country were “legal” from the beginning? Oops, you MIGHT be VERY surprised if you investigated! 🙂