JIM THE INTERLOPER

Throughout US history there have been issues for Americans with immigration. The idea that some foreigners would enter our sacred soil and threaten our jobs and security has lasted from the first time an influx of immigrants began. Just ask the native Americans and how they must have thought when seeing the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria and said: “There goes the neighborhood!”

In the late 19th Century when the immigration process became real enough to count how many people came from the different European countries such as Italy, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and France along with the West Coast influx from China, Japan, then once again in the early part of the 20th Century to the now immigration ‘crisis’ that exists now fear and resentment were the orders of the day for Americans.

Often I read about how someone’s ancestry migrated to America and spoke English while not making demands that we speak Spanish, didn’t ask for anything such as medical or social assistance and always overlooked crimes were committed when compared to today’s immigrants. We tend to forget that history is but a revolving sequence f events borne of poverty and fear, oppression and desperation. We tend to forget that crappy things happen that impose upon the peaceful order of life and survival.

Jim

Back in the 1920s I believe, there was a young man who threw caution to the wind and left his native Ireland and journey to America. Jim was a man seeking his divine destiny whatever it would become. He based this move to America on hope and a dream to live in a country that allowed one to prosper or at least try to.

He laid his fears aside and stepped on these shores pinning his hopes on himself with God’s help. He did wonders meeting a young lady he fell in love with and raised a family filled with promise. They, in turn, proved that indeed you could have hopes and dreams and see them through.

All too often I hear of people that wish t bar immigration because maybe a select few are criminals, or the language is not English and that the infringement on American society is such that the English language is under stress, our ways and conditions, our sense of order, are all falling to foreign influence. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Jim’s birthday is today, he is my father-in-law and I am proud of him. He would have been 109 years old today! When he died in the 1980s, he had left a legacy of love, hard work, and the fulfillment of the American dream. His four children all live productive lives and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren have all followed his lead in living good lives, with honesty and faith in God and each other shining brightly in their collective hearts. 

Perhaps we need to realize that the immigrants of today are the future of America, that America will still stand but a little stronger than it does today. Our fears are found less, built on imagined events that will never occur. I have had the pleasure of meeting these people first hand. Most are hardworking and honest, love their new country because in spite of its flaws it is better than where they came from. To suggest they return to their native lands where fear and poverty reign, where death is almost a certainty, is sin-filled, and those who feel this way should examine their origins and whether they should pretend they believe in God. God knows.