One pro is the opportunity to keep up-to-date on organizations and ministries I support. Another one is to join others with like values and visions for our country and take a stand to keep America the melting pot I love so much.
Before I go on I have to clarify something ~ my love for mankind goes beyond borders, colors and any other orientation you'd like to put on someone (yes, even THAT one!). I love people ~ based on a song I used to sing in Sunday School...
"Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red & Yellow, Black & White, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."
And before you start ranting at me and telling me I'm too tolerant let me clarify one more thing...
It is possible to love people for who they are and not love the choices they choose to live their lives by. The difference is being able to look at the person through God's eyes ~ seeing the person first and the choices second. It's something I've experienced personally. When I was pregnant the first time there were some really neat, good Christian people who chose to look at me in my wrong. They made me question the God I love and wonder if there really was hope for me. The ones who spurred me on toward Christ, however, were the ones who looked at me and loved me for simply being a woman created in the image of God. It's because of those people I can live in the freedom of knowing Christ I live in today.
So, where is this blog going? Well, I stumbled across a post on Facebook this morning that moved me to the point of needing to share it. One of the greatest controversies in our country right now is the Illegal Immigrant problem. (and yes, IT is the problem. NOT the people. People are people are people...the problem is the CHOICE some people are making which is creating one general problem that is becoming a huge problem on many sides.)
I have read many posts and emails that stem from hatred and anger, but as a Teacher-at-Heart who has had the opportunity to teach students from many different countries, those kinds of emails and posts and comments kind of turn my stomach. Not because I disagree with them ~ many of them are completely in line with my own beliefs ~ but because we are missing an opportunity. We are missing out on an opportunity to educate people what our country really is all about...and the opportunity to get to know about what their country of origin is about, too.
I often wonder, "What brought you here?" "Why did you want to escape your other country?" "What was so bad about it, and what can we do to make sure it doesn't happen here?"
I live in this country with an understanding that I am to live by laws and rules under a Constitution drafted to give us Freedom. True Freedom does not come without boundaries ~ it is within legitimate boundaries True Freedom comes. I disagree with giving Identification cards to illegal immigrants, and I agree with states who are simply seeing the extraordinary detriment to both their security and their financial future this Problem is having on them and so have decided to do something about it. It's interesting ~ when a friend or family member has a problem with something that is only leading down a darker and more problematic road we're led to do an "intervention." When my kids are lacking in responsibility I am required as a parent to intervene with disciplinary action that will help bring that character trait to where it should be. But when a state decides to intervene and do something about a problem that is truly wreaking havoc in their state they are called Bullies and idiots. I don't understand.
But I digress.....Many of you have probably heard about the five students who attended school on Cinco de Mayo wearing clothing with the American Flag on them. If you haven't heard, the Assistant Principal first asked them to turn their shirts inside out due to the Holiday it was. They refused. (thankfully) Lead by a fear that the flag would offend some Hispanic students, the Principal then sent those five American Flag-bearing students home.
I have joined a Facebook page based on these five students. The link can be found in the title above, or at the beginning of the post I'm sharing below. It is, quite literally, the first post regarding this particular situation I have read that made me want to stand up and cheer!!! It's not about being tolerant ~ it's about seeing people as people. It's about seeing opportunity for learning and loving and, hopefully out of the relationship built, showing people of all walks the truth of what loving Jesus is all about....being completely you because He's completely Him. I love that. I love that I can be me ~ whether people like me or don't like me; whether I always do what I'm supposed to do or not; whether I'm fat or thin/funny or angry/spacey or spot-on ~ I'm me and I am loved by the King of Kings. He's fighting for me and guiding me, and above all else, THAT is what I long to share with others. This group I'm mentioning isn't set up for that purpose, but that doesn't change anything. Afterall, people are people, right?
Please read the post below ~ I hope it's what I would have done had I been the Assistant Principal in that school.....
In Support of the Live Oak High School Five
Mary BeckerUpdated: 05/17/2010 08:56:43 AM PDT
The students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill have had a very busy week. It seems five students wore T-shirts to school depicting the American flag on May 5.
Why was that a problem? Because it was Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday and the assistant principal decided that wearing the American flag might be offensive to some Hispanic students, causing violence to erupt in the school. The principal asked the five students wearing the American flag to turn their T-shirts inside out for the day. At least one student responded that he thought it would be disrespectful to the flag to do so. That is when the assistant principal sent those five students home.
What should the assistant principal have done? I think I know how my uncle, who was an award-winning teacher and principal would have handled it. He would have summoned everyone to the auditorium, and then he would have called to the stage the students with the American and Mexican flag T-shirts. He would have encouraged them to talk about why they wear these flags, he would have asked the American flag wearers to share their ethnic backgrounds and he would have spoken of his ancestors and why they came to the United States.
Then he would have suggested to the Hispanic students that although their allegiance to Mexico was strong now, in a few generations those ties would lessen and eventually cease to exist. They would feel no more allegiance to Mexico than his family now felt to Germany.
He would explain the conceptof E Pluribus Unum, which translates to "out of many, one." He would have also spoken about the American melting pot and how important it is for these students to acculturate themselves so that their children will have a better life here. He would suggest to the students that the real strength of America is that we do have people here from all over the world, and that is what makes our country so special.
He would also encourage them to honor their roots, but understand they are not the first or last immigrants to this country and they need to follow the example of earlier transplants that came legally and learned English.
Unfortunately, the assistant principal at Live Oak did not have the intelligence or commonsense to identify this valuable teaching opportunity. Instead, he decided that if the American flag might offend some Hispanic students then we should banish that flag. I would like to remind the assistant principal that he is living and working in the United States, not Mexico.
If any flag is to take second place here it should not be the American one and I was very offended by his actions as I'm sure many Americans were. It seems clear to me that this assistant principal is not up to his job and should be terminated.
I'm not sure when insane political correctness overtook our country, I only know it has. To suggest that any American not wear or display our country's flag on any day is absolutely ludicrous. Several years ago I traveled to a country that shall remain nameless. I found the people there to be intolerably rude and they were extremely offensive to me. However, I did not expect this country to change to accommodate me. I did not scream in the streets how offended I was. I did not tell them to change. I did not suggest they fly my flag instead of their own. What I did do was get on a plane and go home, never to return.
I want to say this as nicely as possible. If you are offended by Americans in America flying or wearing the American flag; perhaps you should do as I did and return home. You might be happier, I know I will be.
Mary Becker is a former San Francisco business owner who now lives in Lake County. Contact her at mbnorthernlights@gmail.com.
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