Birthright

Posted on December 20, 2007 | Leave a comment

Thursday, December 20, 2007 

For most of the past 8 months, I’ve been working in Houston, commuting from my home and office in Maryland to an area up and down I-45 just north of the downtown where almost everyone is Hispanic.  These are people, primarily of Mexican heritage, who are in the lower half of our economy.  Many were born here, others are recent immigrants, some legal, some not.

I’m not Hispanic, as you’ve no doubt guessed.  I once asked the two temps who I hired to work with me – both of them Americans whose parents were legal immigrants – how they thought of me, wondering if they were aware of my ethnic background which was as obvious from my surname as their history was from theirs.  “Les,” they laughed back at me, “you’re a white guy!”  I am at that.  More to the point, I am the grandson of immigrants who came here a long time ago, unable to speak the language, and whose native culture had nothing to do with the America they found waiting for them.  They came for the freedom and opportunity to make a living.  They came to work, they did well, and I and my cousins and our children are the legacy of their enterprise and example.  Good for them, and even better for our country.

These Hispanics are remarkable people, smart, friendly, happy, hardworking, and determined to succeed.  You can see it in their eyes, in the smile that comes so easily to their faces, in the kindness and patience they show to strangers, the long hours they work, the sacrifices they are willing to make, and in the way they take care of their immediate and extended families and friends.

Yes, given what little you know of my own history, you’re probably thinking that I am a sucker for immigrants.  You bet I am.  I like the very idea of what they represent – people who leave their native countries to come here to work.  To work.  Let’s be honest with each other, just between you and me, hasn’t it ever occurred to you that many Americans who identify less with their immigrant heritage don’t work all that hard, but choose instead to participate more or less passively in our economy?  What makes them, what makes me any better than these “Mexicans” as some white businessmen I know are wont to call them, regardless of where they were born?  Nothing.  They are my grandparents, happening all over again.  I respect their work ethic, and applaud their spirit.

As for people of this initiative and commitment to our country, we shouldn’t be arguing about ways to keep them out.  We should be in Mexico recruiting them, perhaps offering to exchange them for less enterprising long-term Americans.  I don’t have any solution for the immigration debate except that we need to be honest with and about ourselves.  Rampant, uncontrolled immigration is certainly a serious problem for many reasons.  And it can be, for many of us, uncomfortable and disconcerting to watch the face and feel of our communities changing before our eyes.  Difficult, to be sure, but it is nonetheless un-American and unwise to fear, instead of encourage competition in the workplace.  We simply cannot afford to protect the way things are at the expense of the opportunity to make them better.  We are who we are, personally and as a people, because of the immigrants who came before us.

If the history of the United States means anything, it is that there is no birthright per se, that who you are is what you make of yourself, and not something that is handed down to you by accident of parentage or geography.  On behalf of my own grandparents, long gone, let me offer the argument that – other than the technicality of where they were born – these legal and illegal immigrants, by virtue of their enterprise and example, are as much Americans as you and me.

We need to restart the debate over immigration with this simple sentiment, “Welcome to the United States,” and see where it goes from there.

(If you’re interested in the problem of illegal immigration, be sure to read “Stemming the Tide,” also published on WordFeeder.) 

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Posted in Government Policy, Immigration

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Paparazzi

Posted on October 6, 2007 | Leave a comment

Saturday, October 6, 2007

There’s a simple solution to the paparazzi problem.  All Congress has to do is pass a law giving qualified, registered celebrities ownership of all pictures taken of them.  The effect of the law would be to prevent publication of those photos or videos without their permission.  Without the ability to sell their services, that will be that for the paparazzi business.  Celebrities can always choose to permit the use of material they consider acceptable by selected publications and television programs.

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Posted in Common Sense, Life, Paparazzi

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“Thank you for coming to Wendy’s.”

Posted on September 7, 2007 | Leave a comment

Monday, September 10, 2007

How many times have we been told to wash our hands, by everyone from your and my mother to the Surgeon General?  Anyone with a minimum awareness of routine public health issues knows to avoid touching escalator handrails and other public items, shaking hands with someone with an obvious cold, and then putting our hands to our face or mouth.  Pass me the hand sanitizer, please.  I understand, although I’ve always thought touching all this stuff and breathing everyone else’s air helped keep my body’s immune system in tune, so I’m not all that careful.  (“Aaaachoo!”  Just kidding.)

I’m particularly appreciative of fast food restaurants whose employees wear hats to keep their hair out of my food, although they seem more fashionable than effective.  (Where have all the hairnets gone?)  Latex gloves are especially important for the staff who prepare your food.  Gloves are not perfect, of course, particularly if the “the kid” is wiping his nose between the burgers he’s assembling, but they’re better than nothing.  I hope.

So why am I writing this?  Because the fast food industry has to go one step further, in a hurry.  Because I’m tired of having someone hand me a cup for my self-service drink with his bare hands around the rim.  At least I can use a straw, which I do, every time, comfortable in my belief that germs can’t swim or hold their breath undersoda.  Even more disconcerting, we’ve got to do something about the way some restaurants conserve on napkins by having the cashier put them on your tray or in your bag, the same cashier whose been handling everyone’s money for his entire shift, and doing who knows what between customers.

A few days ago, I was flying back to BWI, through Nashville, from Houston’s Hobby International Airport.  It was one of those crack of dawn flights.  Desperately hungry, I got in line at Wendy’s in the food court, one of the few places open that early in the morning.  I figured an order of French toast sticks, with a box of orange juice, was the healthiest thing on the menu.  Who knows, but that’s not the point.  Moments later, the cashier, a young woman probably in her teens, no doubt dreaming of doing something else for the rest of her life, hurriedly dumped the little box containing my sticks in a bag, all of which fell out, followed by a potato patty which fell out of its pouch, and then picked up two napkins with her bare hand, crumbled them, and stuffed them in the bag on top of the open food.  While there are many things wrong with this customer service, chief among them was the feeling and the fact that every time I wiped by face, I might as well have been doing it with her hand.  Fast food or first class restaurant, think about it the next time the waiter hands you a napkin to replace the one you dropped on the floor.  The Wendy’s girl seemed pleasant enough, but do I really want to be wiping my mouth with some else’s fingers?

I’d like to speak to the Surgeon General, please – provided we don’t have to shake hands.

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Posted in Fast Food, Life, Personal Hygiene

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Cell Phone Emergency Stand Down

Posted on August 8, 2007 | Leave a comment

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

All of us are familiar with the law that requires that we move our cars out of the way to make room for emergency vehicles when we hear a siren or see their flashing lights.  It’s a minor inconvenience and the least we can do to help someone in trouble.  It’s common courtesy, and common sense.  Keep that in mind when you consider what I’m about to suggest.

Remember how, on September 11th a few years ago, the cellular phone systems in New York City were overwhelmed?  Everyone was calling everyone else.  Some were making sure loved ones and friends were okay.  Others were just calling each other to talk about what was happening.  All this, in addition to the usual business and personal calls.  Unfortunately, there may have been people in trouble because of the attack, and other people who had real, life threatening problems elsewhere in the city, but who couldn’t get through on their cell phones to get the assistance they needed.

The other day, when the highway bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, the same thing happened.  The cellular networks serving the Minneapolis area were overwhelmed.  And then it occurred to me, why not pass a law that does for cell phone traffic what current law does for highway traffic?  Let’s require, when the authorities announce a state of emergency which specifically includes an order to curtail non-emergency cell phone activity in a given area, that all of us in that area discontinue using our cell phones until further notice.

Yes, some of us will have to postpone talking to each other until later.  Some of us will arrive late to meetings without being able to call ahead.  Business will be affected.  And some of us will be anxious while we wait to hear from family and friends who may be in an affected area.  In fact, the collective effect is such that the very act of calling to check with the people we care about may put some of them in jeopardy.  Like it or not, individuals acting in what each believes to be his or her best interests can, collectively, produce a counter-productive result.  Staying off the phone may give other people who really need help an extra chance of surviving – which is more important, and precisely what we would want for ourselves and our own children if we were in trouble when an open cell phone line could make a life saving difference.

Exceptions would be incoming calls.  Calls to and from emergency personnel, such as might be necessary to call them back to work.  Calls to and from kids, let’s say 12 or younger, who might be waiting for parents to pick them up, or who might be frightened or confused, and not know what to do.  Even with these exceptions, most of us would be off the system, traffic would be manageable, and real emergencies more easily identified and resolved.

Enforcement would be, for the most part, self-imposed, as it is when cars move of the way of emergency vehicles.  Most of us are responsible and caring.  And who hasn’t imagined him or herself trapped in the World Trade Centers, or in one of the cars on the bridge in Minneapolis?  More than anything, it’s this empathy that will make it work, and the good feeling that all of us will share in having done our small part to help in a crisis.

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Posted in Cell Phones, Common Sense, Life

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