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The younger woman was talking about how she came to the US 15 years ago, but didn't have to come, wasn't running away from anything (political or religious persecution). She proceeded to tell us how she had a very good life in her country and that none of her friends really care about coming to the US anymore. Why was she here? No clue.
The older lady responded by saying that she had lived all over the world, and there was no place like America.
I would have to agree with the older lady. America is the only place made up of immigrants from other nations looking for freedom. When this land was founded, and immigrants started arriving by the boat load, people were not lured by how wealthy the country was, but in fact by only the POSSIBILITY of wealth, happiness and freedom.
So, in today's economic times, when people are starting to say the the US may not be an economic superpower in the future, and are starting to talk trash about our fair nation, let me remind people that there has always been, and will always be, more to the United States of America than money. There is, first and foremost, hope.
In my humble opinion, there are two piece of writing that sum up what this country symbolizes:
- The Declaration of Independence - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
- The Statue of Liberty - "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." by Emma Lazarus.
