America: love it or don't come

I was speaking to someone who immigrated here nearly 20 years ago and by any stretch of the imagination, America has been good to the person. This wasn’t the first time we’ve talked, but each time we do, they make a reference to “their country,” and this morning was no different. The problem is, when they reference their country, they don’t mean America – they mean where they immigrated from.

Having fled a socialist country with none of the freedoms we take for granted every day – this person references everything in the context of the country they came from. I’ve tolerated the talk since we met a couple months ago – but today was the last straw.

My question was – if the country you came from is so much better than America, why are you still here? Why not go back there? What’s keeping you here? Not surprisingly they had no answer.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the person. They are hard working and appear to be honest. But, no one forced them to come here, and no one held them back once they arrived.

Therein lies my complaint. It’s not that they came here and struck it rich in terms of material wealth – but they did come here and strike it rich in terms of opportunity. And what price tag do you put on that?

You come here, then this is your home, this is your country. Your loyalty is to America. Longing for the country you freely left is tantamount to longing for a dog that refused to stop messing on the floor. America has given this person everything, and more, than they were able to hope for in their country of origin.

I know there are bleeding hearts who will disagree with my sentiments, but the majority of people who immigrate here do so of their own free will. In their doing same, it is not unreasonable to expect them to consider this their home. It’s bad enough we’ve got people who have were bred and born here still trying to pay allegiance to some mythical place in Africa most of them couldn’t find on a map if you held a gun on them.

If you aren’t coming here to adopt America as your home, I say stay where you are – and I don’t much care whether or not anyone likes my sentiments. America cannot survive as a nation, if it is fractured because of those who loyalties are elsewhere.