On Neighbors and Sharing America
On Neighbors and Sharing America: There’s an old Asian man who lives a block down from us. Every day he either walks with ski poles or rides his bicycle for several hours around a two-block flat section of our neighborhood. Next door to us is a Serbian couple who run a restaurant downtown. Both neighbors are immigrants to this country and both are enjoying its promise of a decent life.

We don’t know much about the man our neighbors call simply “the Chinaman”. He doesn’t talk. Perhaps he doesn’t’ know the language. The best interaction is when our eyes meet, I wave and he gives a curt nod. He’s obviously retired now, but we don’t know if in his working life he was a day laborer or a nuclear scientist. We know he lives with his family and they head to work and school each day, just like all the other working families in the neighborhood. We don’t know if he’s a refugee or what the conditions are in his homeland. We realize that in another American neighborhood an elderly foreigner could easily fall prey to the darker side of America. We’re happy he’s been able to end up in our neck of the woods and enjoy what’s left of his life.

The Serbian neighbors are great people. They work hard every day, enjoy their family, some of which are a couple States away. Their business has suffered from the pandemic, but they are resolutely dealing with it. They talk of the awful conditions back in Serbia and the relatives still there. There is no question they have “adopted” America and are relishing this new life they’ve been able to build in their middle years. We’re happy they’ve been able to end up in our neck of the woods and enjoy their lives.

This is what America used to be. A nation willing to share itself with newcomers. A nation confident that we had an abundance of resources for all who came here. A nation that heralded the benefits of our “melting pot” of cultures and ideas. Our politics now has an Alamo-type of cast. We’ve become convinced that our former openness and generosity has brought us to our knees. We also are scared that the inmates are taking over the asylum, as people of color emerge into leadership and prominence. Apparently, the melting pot has boiled over.

Meanwhile, globally migration of peoples is not abating. The current global estimate is that there were around 281 million international migrants in the world in 2020, which equates to 3.6 per cent of the global population. (IOM UN World Migration Report). Driven out of their birth nations by violence, poverty, war and climate changes, the worlds human population will continue to seek a better life in other nations. Our American standard of living, relative freedom and opportunity are all magnets for people seeking a better life. With ten million unfilled jobs, not counting the unreported job market, we certainly have room for some migration. We stand responsible for some of the migration from places where we’ve meddled in their politics and exploited their labor and resources. Under these circumstances, its hard to see how we will avoid a growing number of people knocking on our door and asking to be let in. Given that all of our allies across the world are accepting migrants, it’s also hard to believe we can fold our arms and close our borders. We are subject to international pressure and we do still have a measure of human empathy.

If we look at my neighbors and the contributions and good citizenship they display every day, and we regain our optimism in our nations ability to become enriched by newcomers and confidence that our economy can grow with their contributions, we can find the answers. In essence, dealing with migration has less to do with the migrants and more to do with our own belief in the limitless promise of our nation.

ihg 9-27-2021

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