One way to get through these hard financial times is to draw inspiration from those who came before us. Think of your parents and the struggles they went through, think about the WW II generation, the civil rights movement, or those who persevered through the first Great Depression. Think about the women's suffrage movement, the veterans of WWI, the devastation of the Civil War, the courage of anti-slavery movement, the boldness of the American Revolution. Think about the Pilgrims, the mighty, mighty Pilgrims. Persecuted in England for their Puritan beliefs they left England and went to Holland. Persecuted and disenchanted in Holland, one night they had a meeting and said, "We are persecuted in England; we are persecuted in Holland, where in this world can we go to practice our religion freely?" One of them said, "How about Cape Cod?" Cape Cod!!!! "Can we get a place? It's the off season and it is 1620" said the man with the buckle in his hat.
So 100 Pilgrims set sail for the new world, they were aiming for Virginia, got blown off course and landed in Provincetown, Mass. during the winter of 1620. And even in 1620 you could not get a place for 100 people in chic, trendy, Provincetown.
I think we all underestimate the hardships these people endured. Obviously they didn't have the heat, electricity, hot water, medicine or toiletries. It was about day to day, hour to hour sometimes minute to minute stress, incredible fear and stress.
Many of them had wooden shoes. Wooden shoes! Its bad enough you are lost, your shoes are made of wood. Many of them had wooden teeth. Wooden teeth. They had buckles on their shoes, buckles on their belts, buckles on their hats. Let's face it they were a buckled up people. As a matter of fact they were the originators of the seat belt law. "Where are thee going"? I am going to Salem to burn a witch" Buckle up!!!! You know you are stressed out my friends when you need a buckle on your hat to keep your head together.
Initially the Pilgrims got along very well with the Native Americans. The Indians showed great compassion and empathy for the Pilgrims especially Squanto. He felt sorry for the pilgrims. H told his fellow tribesman look at these poor people we have to help them, their all buckled up. How are they going to catch a deer? You can hear them coming through the woods for miles. Squanto in an act of great compassion, and in an attempt to acclimate the pilgrims to the new world, said to Miles Standish "Miles lighten up bro! You are in Provincetown. For the Love of God, put on some sandals and unbuckle the hat!!!!"
388 years later people are still coming to this country in search of a better life. For religious freedom, political freedom, for economic freedom. Now I know immigration is a very very controversial issue. The US Senate voted this year to build a 700 mile fence across the Mexican border. Now there are a couple of problems with the 700 mile fence across the Mexican border. The first problem is that the border with Mexico is 1900 miles long. Now I'm not an expert on Immigration but I would surmise that people fleeing abject poverty.....will go around the fence.
When you look at the risks that these people take to come to this country are they not modern day pilgrims? Think about this - there are people sneaking into this country to work. That is amazing sneaking into a country to work? There are people who have lived here their entire lives sneaking out of work to go to the country.
But think about that, sneaking into a country to work. That's incredible. That's like someone breaking into your house to clean it. I want these people in this country, my house is a mess.
Yet we still need accountability because we need to know who is in the country and what they are doing here, for the sake of the immigrants and for the sake of the society at large. But primarily because the anti immigration folks say the immigrants are taking more from the country than they are bringing to the table. Now the pro immigration people say no a they are bringing much more to the table than they are taking. No one really knows for sure because it is largely an underground economy. Therefore I am suggesting a debit card, to be used by all non citizens in every public and private transaction. at the end of the month you just add it up to see who has taken what from whom.
Ok sir you have been here for 30 days what have you taken from our society. Let's see you used the public streets, you used public transportation, your children are going to public schools, and when you got hurt running across the border sir you used the public emergency room. Yes you did, sir you did, Sir those are our crutches. OK granted they were made in Mexico but they are ours now.
Ok so let's se what have you brought to the table. It says here that you painted 3 houses, cleaned 13 yards, your wife babysat 14 families, you started a landscape business, you wrote a computer software program.... and according to our records sir it says here you pitched 2 innings in the World Series. We owe you 4 million dollars!!!!