----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Vest" <autobeus1998(a)comcast.net>
To: <VAFLOYD-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 8:31 AM
Subject: [VAFLOYD] Fw: Please , pass this along, it's excellent
Subject: Please , pass this along, it's excellent
A red, white, and blue double Amen!
Subject: Letter to Editor--Never Printed! From: "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC
Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it
myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so
inclined. Dave LaBonte (signed)
Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange
County Register:
Dear Editor: So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this
land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should
tear down the Statute of Liberty because the people now in question aren't
being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other
ports of entry.
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr.
Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of
immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of
Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and
stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get
down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to
uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times.
They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households
and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home. They
had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life
and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into
one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no
labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship
they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.
Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father
fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany,
Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave
any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were
Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were
defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated
France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or
the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only
Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country.
Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up
another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would
have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be
here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They
stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.
And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same
rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a
different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a
guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not
what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who
landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for
all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to
create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a
better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an
example by those waving foreign country flags.
And for that suggestion about taking down the Statute of Liberty, it
happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration
bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just
yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte
----------------------------------------------
P. S. Pass this on to everyone you know!!! KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING!! I
hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!
~~ r.p
Letter to editor never published | I Was Your Age Twice
http://www.iwasyouragetwice.com/node/3891
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