In most towns and cities across the country there are a few obligatory landmarks. There is always a post office, always a bank and always food from around the world.
It doesn’t matter if you are in the smallest town in America I would bet good money that they will have a little taco joint, a Chinese buffet, a coffee stand or at least a neighbor who knows how to fry up a good Pad Thai.
We, as Americans, are global citizens whether we like it or not, and it has been that way since we first learned how to pinch pieces of chicken between two sticks.
There is an increasingly heated debate growing up in our nation over issues on immigration. It is the type of hot-button topic that you can only ignore if you close your eyes real tight, clasp your hands over you ears and choose to not get out of bed in the morning.
International influences have seeped into our everyday, and it is not a new occurrence. Unless you are a full-blooded Native American Indian you are an immigrant, and somewhere back in your lineage you were the foreigner.
For many immigrants to our country May 1 has become a day to protest how things are, a day to bring the country’s attention to the fact that there are nearly 12 million foreign souls living within our borders and contributing to who we are and yet feel like they are not being recognized.
Look around you and you will see that the typical image of an American—tow-headed with eyes like the sky—simply is not the norm.
Among our ranks of laborers, workers and student populations is a rising proportion of diversity, and it is growing with each year.
Don’t believe me? When is the last time you baked an apple pie? I bet that you have had 100 more cappuccinos in the last couple months than apple pie.
Maybe we should change the saying to “as American as a tall non-fat double cappuccino.”
Securing our borders from illegal crossing and addressing the high proportion of illegal immigrants in our country, while being related, should be dealt with in completely different manners.
It is one thing to deny a person entrance to the country in the first place, but revoking them residence in our country once they are already established is a completely different thing.
It is different because they are no longer who they were when they came. They are us, and in turn we become a little bit of them. Immigrants to our country invest time, effort and love into their new lives and that is felt from the tangible to the completely intangible.
It is illegal to issue a license to an illegal immigrant, but it is not illegal to provide them insurance. And so insurance companies, with the almighty dollar in mind, have complied and are now providing insurance to anyone who cares to pay for it. And so, in the strictly nuts and bolts manner of thinking, immigrants are contributing to our country, to our economy and to our livelihood.
Then there is the effect immigrants have on our nation that can’t be sliced and diced in clean numbers. The benefit of fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking, the infusion of new talents and skills—and then there is the food.
Foreign food is everywhere, and we love it. While I don’t know the right answer to the immigration issue, to who we should let stay and who we should send packing, I know what our taste buds think. We order pizza for the big game and we drink wine with fancy dinners. Our gullets have always been open, now if we could just do something about our minds.
The love you give comes back in the end.
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