He's got an Interstate running through his front yard.
You know he thinks he's got it so good
John Mellencamp
I was talking the other day over lunch with a friend of mine, who happens to be an illegal alien. He is from Mexico.
He lives in a mobile home off of Colfax. He has a Mexican girl friend and a baby American daughter. Actually a dual citizenship daughter, but that's not my point this time around.
We were talking about TV's, and how he wanted a flat screen. And we talked about all the toys his new daughter had, thanks to gringo yard sales. And how he finally had fixed the air conditioner in his mobile home. For those of you that have never lived in a mobile home off of Colfax in the summer, it gets kinda hot. Kinda like that sauna at the B&B in Vail can get after a day of skiing the back bowls.
But hey, blow off the back bowls at Vail. Nothing like spending the day with a baby in a sauna, right? Or a month. Or two.
Anyway, the conversation was just kind of meandering along, the way conversations between two friends can do, when suddenly he stopped and grinned.
"Here in America I live like a rich man! In Mexico, never."
I have thought about that comment for the last couple of days. There is something contained within those words, and that situation, which bears contemplating.
So much of the argument against the illegal immigration issue is based on the wrong perception. The perceptions that these people are criminals. That they are stealing jobs. That (and this gets so absurd I wonder why I type it) they are diluting all America stands for. That we shouldn't have to go to the bank or the grocery store and read anything in Spanish in the good ol' US of A.
Do I want unilateral amnesty for illegal immigrants? No I don't. Do I believe they deserve unilateral amnesty? No I don't.
Do I think they should all be shipped home? No I don't. Even if I did, how you gonna do it? By airplane? I don't think so. By bus? How many buses you got? Oh that's right, the TRAIN!
The RR companies in this country have a history of deceit and overbearing falsehood, but really how else are you going to ship them home? Seriously, how are you going to move 10+ million of them besides on the trains? But I digress. This isn't about the RR companies or logistics.
I mean seriously, after reading a bit about the history of RR companies in this country, I'm guessing they would probably fake engine trouble and put all the undocumented passengers to work repairing the tracks. All 10+ million of them, which would admittedly fix a lot of tracks.
I know some of you don't care about the resemblance we might have to Nazi Germany if we were to pack 10 million people onto the trains, but I do.
Man, I hate it when I allow myself to get off subject so easily.
Enough of RR companies and how they built their system on the backs of Chinese coolies.
Dang me and my digressing. Dang it. I absolutely hate it when I get off subject.
Our kids are spoiled in this country. And we, the parents, are responsible. How many kids these days are taught to work hard? How many kids in Douglas County are taught the value of honest labor done with your hands and your back?
No really, seriously. How many kids in Douglas County would feel like a rich man if they were living in a trailer off of Colfax?
How many of you parents would think your kids were rich if they were living in a trailer off of Colfax with a baby and a girlfriend and shaky A/C?
And if you think your kid has been taught to work hard, and he has been taught that any good labor done well and honestly is equal to the labor of the guy passing him in the Lexus (and hey, I think a Lexus is a sweet ride), then send him my way, would you? I need good labor.
Okay, okay. What's your point, Mick?
My point is this. America needs labor. America always needs labor.
The best labor comes from those hungry to improve themselves. Our kids aren't that hungry. That might be a good thing.
Let it go. Let your children be the rocket scientist you want them to be, and let those trying to improve their situation and do the grunt work this country needs, do it.
Let it go. Pass some legislation saying it is okay, with qualifications, that you are here, and now here is your card, start paying taxes and when you are ready you can go home and visit your family.
Just keep your nose clean for awhile and don't try to retake California. (Hmm, on second thought....)
Seriously, keep your nose clean and we might let you stay. And for cryin' in a bucket, learn the language, would you? How else you gonna understand what your kid is saying?
No habla Espanol? Donde es la queso? (You don't speak Spanish? Where's the cheese?)
Por favour (Please).