Equal Treatment & Cutting In Line

I've been called a lot of bad things: bitchy, insensitive, repulsive, etc. "Ignorant" is a rare treat. But I'm pretty thick-skinned. After all, everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.

Including me. I may not be as informed as some, but I do actually take some small amount of time to research as much as time allows on a subject before forming an opinion. I don't know that such would qualify me as "ignorant."

I promised myself that I wouldn't post before June 1, but then I received this in my inbox, and I figured that I could use this opportunity to learn how to type with one hand.

Let me say that in no way do I believe that illegal immigrants should be "punished" unless they have committed a crime. Hopping a border isn't a crime in my book. Unfortunately, identity theft, fraud, and tax evasion are. But hey, you have to take the bad with the good. If you go into another country, you have to abide by that country's laws just as much as you expect to receive the benefits of being in that country.

What I DID say, however, was that I believed that illegal immigrants should not be given amnesty, and as such, what I consider to be special treatment. Yet, as many are demanding "equal treatment" they are actually demanding SPECIAL treatment over those who have been waiting for citizenship for years.

Two of the men my husband works with are legal immigrants from Kuwait and Nigeria. Ask them if they believe whether or not amnesty should be given, and they'll both likely answer "NO." Why? Because they had to go through the process, and they believe that he process instills a greater pride and respect for being able to call themselves an American. Was the life that they lived in their old countries any better than what those who are demanding amnesty experienced? Of course not! Do they have any fewer innocent children? Of course not! The difference is that they waited their turn.

Imagine that you, like Carlos, are waiting in line for the most fabulous theme park ride ever created. You've been standing in that line for years. Just as you get close to the front, some group of over a million people decide to cut in line in front of you. You will now have to wait even longer. What's worse, the group that cut in line didn't even bother to pass the medical screening that everyone else had to pass in order to make sure that they could safely ride this ride. How would that make you feel? You would probably be as pissed as the many LEGAL immigrants that are opposed to amnesty.

I responded to the person so confident in his own "facts" that he posted anonymously. (I'd love to see how he backs up his "facts" when it's apparently so easy to track tax records that were filed under false documentation. I base my beliefs on the hope that the people coming to this country are brighter than he gives them credit for.) Here's what I had to say:

"Now that I think about it, I've reconsidered. I think that illegal immigrants SHOULD be given amnesty... So long as they get a signed letter from every person who has been waiting to obtain legal citizenship saying that they don't mind this person jumping in front of them in line.

That sounds fair, doesn't it?"

Now I require this action because I believe that those wishing to obtain citizenship are my equals and should be treated as such. I believe that anything less than this would be an insult to these fine people because, as such, it would imply that they are somehow inferior to me and all legal immigrants and that they require special treatment as a result.