A workable solution

This is probably the hardest and longest writing assignment we have been given. I am frustrated that it happens to be both all in one assignment. It is easy to point out the problems that exist in the world. It is very difficult to try and think of a workable solution to one or any of them. Before being asked to write my last essay, I was quite self righteous and thought that certainly I had no part in and didn’t assist, in anyway, perpetuating evil in this world. I relate and identify with one of my classmates essays. She wrote about the use of animals for testing cosmetics and medicine and compared that to slavery. I support her statement that some evil is backed by good. Sometimes there are social justifications for our actions but that doesn’t make our actions right.

I was forced to sit and rack my brain for personal actions that support some evil in the world. At first I thought this was nonsense. I thought there was no way I would be able to do the assignment because I am too aware and too well adjusted to have any part in such things. I’m fairly certain I have been quite ignorant to what I have been party to in the past. Then I thought of my son. His blood is half mine and the other belongs to a man who “does not belong here.” His father is an illegal immigrant who hides among the lower working class. He takes the jobs that no one else wants and does it for a wage that no one else will work for. I am a different person now then I was then because of my close proximity to the issue. It has changed my heart and it has changed the way I think about immigrants in this country.

I think it would be nearly impossible to shift society as a whole into accepting the massive number of immigrants that are accepted in the U.S. each year. Since 2000, legal immigrants to the United States number approximately 1,000,000 per year, of whom about 600,000 are Change of Status immigrants who already are in the U.S. (Wikipedia). This means 600,000 of those people who become legal citizens every year are already here illegally or on work visas and are simply changing their status. Our intolerant behavior is dangerous. It is dangerous because it mirrors the actions and intolerant attitude of Adolf Hitler. He only wanted a select few who belonged, the select few who had the right to freedom and education and happiness. That seed of hate, once planted, can grow and consume an individual. The seed of intolerance, once sown, can spread like disease and consume you from the inside out. Once one person isn’t welcome than others follow. Once people aren’t welcome, other actions and choices begin to be restricted. It is an avalanche of hate waiting to be set off.

We must remember we are all members of the human race. We are all brothers and sisters created by the same God who loves us and wants us to have peace and happiness. There is SO much wrong with the world but there are SO many who want to do good. We feel powerless as one individual but together we can accomplish so much. We need to start with the children. Alexander Liebenstein, a holocaust survivor, goes around the world teaching tolerance to children. We must start when they are young and pliable and impressionable. They are the future. Just like we teach drug abuse resistance education (DARE) we need to start nation- wide tolerance education programs in elementary schools. Education is key and knowledge is power. We need to empower the youth of tomorrow with the knowledge and belief of tolerance for all people today.

I don’t condone violence. Often, words and written discourse are the catalyst for great change. You can’t apply jail time and fines to intolerance. Unfortunately, you can’t prevent rebellion and war when it comes to tolerance either. It could come from either side. It could be the citizens living here or the immigrants trying to get here. Fighting for my son is worth sacrificing my life. We never really know what lengths we will go to trying to preserve our own lives and liberties. We never know until we must do it. Sacred honor is just that and it should be defended at all costs. What is worth losing everything for to you?