We have an imaginary line--a border if you will, that surrounds the United States. In some places we have fences marking those imaginary lines. Good fences make good neighbors, dontcha know! If you stay on the other side of that line, then everything will be copacetic, but...if you don't, that's an entirely different story. Now, we bought and paid for those lines long ago. We bought from the Dutch, stole from the British (heck, it's only treason if you lose--we didn't.) finagled with the French, and wrestled with the Spanish. And we won those lines. The survey marks there just like the imaginary lines surrounding your own property if you still own your own property.
But that imaginary line is a thing of beauty. If I take the risk...if I step over the line, then, maybe, my family can have a better life. Certainly, not always altruistic motives. That imaginary line can also hold untold fortunes for those who sell drugs or cars or...people. Those aren't the entrepreneuers we're looking for. But for the pure of heart, the line is important.
As US citizens we grow up being taught the value of ourselves, our liberty, and our unique ability to create our own success. The line doesn't apply to us unless we leave our own borders.
An ex-patriate with a need to see what's beyond those imaginary borders, I know what it feels like to live in other countries. In Japan, you are issued a gaijin card. You carry that card everywhere--by law. This is a country that expelled all foreigners for over two hundred years. There was not one time that I entered or left the country without getting pulled out of line and taken into a back room to question what I was doing, made to show my documents, and had my luggage opened, x-rayed, and put back together. Same held true in South Korea. Same in the Bahamas. Same in Jamaica.
All imaginary lines. All very real experiences.
But back to that line. If it's me and my family, then would I care about the line? If I knew, right over there is a better place, would I go even if I was there illegally?
Of course.
Remember, I came not only with my ideology set but my country's edicts, as well. I came with a certain set of God-given rights to make the best life that I know how. My individual rights far outweigh the laws of any land. I would weigh the penalties versus the possibilities of creating a better life for my family. My individual rights would always outweigh the imaginary line.
What our country forgets is the Eden that it represents for many. The bounty we so easily fail to see is not imaginary to others. What our country fails to see is that anyone who has the push and determination to come here for a better life is exactly the kind of person we want living here. We, a country of rule-breakers and rebels, should understand better than anyone else in the world the mindset of the illegal immigrant. You can build it here. You can dream it here. You can legitimize yourself here. You just have to be brave enough to cross the imaginary line.
As a US citizen, I like the imaginary line. As a US citizen, I also don't mind sticking my toe over any imaginary line, doing a little dance over that line, and crossing it just a little to see how far across the line I can get.
Don't worry, USA, you taught us all since birth to push the boundaries in thought, in mind, and in deed. You're not really surprised, are you, that others want to stick their toes over the imaginary line? Seems like if they are willing to take the risk on us, maybe, we should take the risk on them.
What's the worst that can happen? We won't be monoglots?
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