America
As a child of immigrants, I am constantly reminded of the blessings of this land. My parents came here from Finland, without wealth, without friends, or community. They had only hope of a better, richer world. And they found it.
My father welded Liberty Ships in Baltimore Harbor during World War II. He was already a citizen then, but could not serve in the military because he was in an essential war industry. I remember helping my mother study for her citizen exam when I was in 6th grade. She had to learn Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the Preamble to the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights among other things. When she passed the test, she wept with joy. She was now a citizen of the United States, something she had dreamed about for her whole life.
Here’s a poem I wrote several years ago about our great land.
America
If there is a value in America, it is ideals and philosophies,
not wealth and power. We will not keep those ideals
and philosophies here, locked in our land.
When we say “Give me your tired, your poor”, we mean give us
your out-molded, patriarchal, backward, non-functioning mores
and let us show you what liberty and freedom can do for your people.
Give us your masses of oppressed men and women and
let us teach them to read, to think and to reason, for we know
that goodness exists in the core of every human being.
If we do this, the beauty, the excellence, the giving,
helping, healing heart of all people will grow,
and we will have a new world.
Free, abundant, kind, and caring.