My daughter plays mellophone in her high school marching band. (No shame in clicking the link to find out what a mellophone is. I had to look it up when she first started playing.) This past Friday night, I volunteered to help out the band, and I had an experience that I thought was worth sharing.
Before the game, the American flag and the state flag is brought out by the JROTC color guard, a team of four. This team of four is introduced by rank and name prior to the playing of the national anthem.
Take a moment of perspective with me. These young men and women have chosen, as high school kids, to serve their country as a career. They have volunteered their time and efforts at an age when most of us have far lesser things on their mind.
Now listen to the roll call of their last names as I remember it. My apologies if I get them wrong, but exactitude isn’t necessary here:
“Rodriquez”
“Hernandez”
“Kwan”
“Smith”
Three of the four young people who have chosen to serve their country are likely from immigrant families.
In the current political climate, I admire their choice. Consider this – people from your country are being made to feel unwelcome at best, and like second-class citizens at worst. Do you choose to serve the country that’s doing this to your people? The children of people like you are being yanked from the arms of their parents seeking a better life in this country, yet you continue to offer your time, your effort, and possibly your life to defend that country.
People from your country are being made to feel unwelcome, like second-class citizens. Do you choose to serve the country doing this to your people? Click To TweetI am the son of immigrants. Almost all of us are. Some of us were welcome here when we came, others derided and discriminated against. My great grandfather came here in the 1920s. Nearly a hundred years later, have we learned nothing?
Look to these young men and women and decide if you can say to their faces that they are lesser than you.