Remembering who we are

This is on the Statue of Liberty…it was written by Emma Lazarus.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

My folks are from Italy. I learned this sonnet when I was a boy. To me it said; "All people were welcome into America as Americans." The only other country that has ever done this was Rome. Together strangers from different lands cleared a swamp, and built the city of Rome, and together they grew into a world power. America is the second Rome. Different people from different land building a nation together.

I read daily how many complain about those from Mexico, and South America coming into the country.

Maybe Americans have forgotten: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

I see those risking everything to get here as the, "Grand parents of our future generations. I don’t see them as any different than when my people came here, poor, yearning for a chance at a new life, freedom, and safety for their children.

Do we have room for them? Most of the land is empty…owned by the Federal Government…I’m sure we can fit them in.

I have heard many say; "They would freeload of the rest of us." It does not have to be that way. When my folks came there was no aid from the government…if you did not work, you did not eat.

I believe in the sonnet Emma Lazarus gave to us…those words offer hope to those who have none.

I am sorry...I have no idea why my post spread open like this?

Me sentiments exactly.  I made reference to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty on a different thread when we were discussing the remarks by Donald Trump.  I had hoped that a moderator would ask Trump if he knew could recite the inscription.
Having said that, there comes a point in time when immigration must be restricted to protect those already here/there.  Europe is currently experiencing an overwhelming influx of migrants/refugees that are creating havoc.  Even neighboring countries have become the object of criticism.  Austria is overwhelmed and some migrants are being bussed to the German border in the middle of the night and deposited there.  Ridding oneself of a problem by giving it to another is not a friendly thing to do.  It is so bad in Germany that Chancelor Merkel is being attacked by opposing parties and her popularity has declined due to her initial open arms welcoming gesture.  At first it was a positive thing.  No one expected the overwhelming numbers of people involved.  Those fleeing war zones, i.e., Syria are not the subject of dispute.  The problem arises where people not from war zones, but seeking a better economic way of life join with the refugees.  The effect is not just monetary, but also one of accommodation.  
Integration takes time.  When there is a crisis, the luxury of time doesn’t exist.  Volunteers are sought to help with the refugees.  That may sound simple, but one must consider the problem of communication.  It is not just language, but also an understanding of culture of those involved. Where integration is the end result, the process takes much time.  People feel more comfortable being with those sharing the same language and culture.  Even today in the US we still have communities where people band together to retain their culture. Being separate makes sense during the initial stage, however there must be a plan for eventual integration.

1)The world got along fine before man could fly. 2)The world got along fine before the steam engine. 3)The world got along fine before the computer.4) The world got along fine before the cell phone. 5) the world got along fine before immigration.

1) Less people died from falling off a horse.
2) Travel was slower. You could see the land, and meet the people.
3) People spent more time with family.
4) People talked to each other...face to face.
5) No immigration gave people more freedom to live on our little blue rock.

true, all the wonderful things have advantages...but are we ready for them?

No matter what our kids and the new generation think about us, WE ARE AWESOME !!!
OUR Lives are LIVING PROOF !!!
 
To Those of Us Born 1925 - 1970 :

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930s, '40s, '50s,'60s and '70s!!
 
First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank
while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
 
Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs
covered with bright coloredlead-based paints.
 
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets,
and, when we rode our bikes,we had baseballcaps,not helmets, on our heads.
 
As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts,no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.. 
 
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat. 
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
 
We ate cupcakes,white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.And we weren't overweight.
WHY? Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
 
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day.-- And, we were OKAY.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride
them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem..

We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were no video games,no 150 channels on cable,no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or
CDs, no cell phones,no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut,broke bones and teeth,and there were
no lawsuits from those accidents.
 
We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.
We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt,and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, 22 rifles for our 12th, rode horses,made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and - although we were
told it would happen - we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! 
 
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,problem solvers, and inventors ever.

The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas..

We had freedom,failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of those born between 1925-1970, CONGRATULATIONS!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

10/31

                     " YES ! We are the generation that lived a life that's no more !
                     I feel sorry for today's kids, then again it's up to the parents to
                     make sure they have a kid's life not a couch potato life.......

                                                      Cheers..Joe.......

Right on Abe,
We had no drugs...very few girls had children outside of marriage. Low crime. I remember a man was murdered in Boston...it was news across the country for a month. if a stranger saw a kid doing something wrong they would stop them.
The adult generation of our youth was the best this country ever had...they are pretty much gone today. I have often wondered what they would think of the world today?
During the war, L.A. had a big gang. The men in the armed forces were let lose to beat them up...it ended the gang.

First, there were fewer people.  Second, communication was limited to pen and ink.  Third, travel was costly and limited. Fourth, education was expensive and limited.  Fifth, many people lived on family farms a considerable distance from each other.  Sixth, large families contributed to the family income. Seventh, garden plots and canning were the norm.  Eighth, the center of the community was the church and the school - most families had members in one or the other or both.  Ninth, doctors made house calls. Tenth, people died from illnesses that no longer exist or are prevented by vaccinations or cured by antibiotics. Eleventh, old people died younger from "natural causes" like heart failure, diabetes, stroke, falls, injuries and epidemics.

Daily life was difficult unless a person could afford hired help.  "Women's work" was a major hardship from scrubbing laundry and hanging it to dry, to ironing with a heavy piece of iron, to chopping off the head of the chicken and plucking it for dinner, to churning butter, to making soap, to cleaning with brooms and rug beaters, to fighting off bugs and pests.  Add raising a brood of children for lack of contraception and women looked old and worn at a young age.  Add farming chores to that list.  Men's work was labor intensive unless they had an education and could work in a bureau or office, working long hours and often six to seven days a week depending on the occupation.

Travel was uncomfortable.  There were no public toilets.  Clothing and home goods were often ordered by catalogs.

As for the youth of today - we don't read about every Mormon high school graduate that serves their faith in mission service.  Many private schools send their students on service internships.  Many youth help in soup kitchens and with Relay for LIfe and multiple charities.  They tutor younger students and work long hours to become artists, performers, athletes and scholars.  Many care for their younger siblings because both parents work.  Most are working also in low-paid, service industry jobs and contributing to the family income.

I see yesterday as no better than today, today no better than yesterday, and tomorrow but a promise unfulfilled.  Every generations takes what it wants and gives back what it chooses or is encouraged about.  Today's communication and transportation are so swift and the population so hungry for the negative and notorious that that the world sounds worse - when in reality, more people are fed, more people are healthy, and more meaningful employment grows in new areas every day.  People of the U.S. are the most philanthropic in the world from their personal volunteering and personal philanthropy.  We have enough leisure to sit for hours in front of televisions, video games and PC's and to travel to the far reaches of the earth.  We can be clean, we can access healthy food, and we can find a place to dwell and work if we choose to accept the consequences of our choices.

Always, the wealthiest among us have it the easiest.  The poorest suffer in every generation.  But I don't believe there is a better generation or worse.  There's just the passage of time and generation of knowledge that changes the circumstances of every generation for good and bad.  With more people and more communication, there's more of everything - and we hear the most about the bad because we seem to crave that type of information.

I'm a little tired of today's politicians bemoaning that we are no longer great.  That's a lot of rot.  Of course we are great.  We have opportunity for most and have an almost obscene freedom of thought and speech.  We can vote. We can write just about anything freely.  We can travel 5000 miles without crossing a border and experience cultural differences that reflect the world at large.

Of course we need the immigrants.  They are for the most part young and hopeful - and that is the strength of any nation, not the old folks clinging to the stagnant past.  That doesn't mean there aren't older citizens with the vision to look to the present and future, it's just that age seems to create this sort of memory cleanz that defines the present in terms of the past instead of its own time.

DK,
you are talking about the 1800's, not the 1950's. We had Tv, phones, and the markets sold chickens with the legs, head, and feathers off. We had washing machines. cars, and airlines, trains, buses, and ships.
true most married women did not work outside the home...it was a big time for having babies.

As to the present?  This young generation is Shxt...soon they will be the adults running the country.(into the ground.)
You can keep up hope things will get better, but I tell you the truth...they won't. I have been saying on this forum since 2009..."Things will get worse." How do I know that? It is in the Bible, and it tells how, when, where and by what generation. If you think it is bad now, wait a year more...or less.

DK, what you said is true, however what it reflects is that progress has its downside.  The greatest change was with a culture.  Adaptation to change takes much time and is never smooth.  We older folk who experienced both often reflect on how it once was.  It was not an easy life, but it was a good life.  It was people worked together helping each other.  I don't see that happening today.  I see people thinking only of themselves.  I doubt that there will be a reversal, but we can seek to retain or acquire some of the principles that were instrumental in building our country.  Everyone for themselves does not lend itself to working together for the common good.