Not Breaking News

Just Speaking My Mind

I feel as though some of our nation’s leaders are dragging us backward.  In some instances, so far back, it’s pre-constitution times.  Closing ourselves off from the rest of the world and forgetting that those men who composed, wrote and signed the Constitution of our country were not “American’s”.  Not really, because the only “native” people were indigenous people who had their land taken away.  Our ancestors fought for us to have the freedom to live here without the hindrances and shackles of undemocratic countries.  We welcomed, with open arms, others who wanted freedom and a chance to live their lives with religious freedom and freedom from the taxation of the king.  No one and I mean no one can say they are “pure” American with no immigration in your ancestry.  The Statue of Liberty was given to America by the people of France in 1886 as a reminder and commemoration of the liberty offered to all the world.  Remember there is also a sonnet by Emma Lazarus in 1883 to raise money for a pedestal upon which a poem was to be engraved.  Her sonnet was engraved in 1903.  “The New Colossus”  If you haven’t read it ever, please read it now to remind ourselves of the significance of the poem.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "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-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I spent the day doing genealogy and I am so proud to say I have more Revolutionary War patriots than I ever thought I had.  Ancestors I had no idea existed and countries I had no clue I had ancestors who immigrated from.  A small list of immigrants who came to this country: England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, Greece.  A lot of them changed their names once they arrived and thus I had no idea these countries are represented.  Some came via Canada because of immigration rules, which I didn’t know about.  I know that many came to practice their religious beliefs freely.  I counted 6 different families that were Quakers or “Friends”.  They were being killed in England because they broke away from the Church of England, so the “new land of freedom” that an ancestor spoke of in a letter was their hope for their future. 

Never forget that part of our history when the rhetoric is telling you to keep people out of our country. 

Now, for something a little closer in history.  The infamous 60’s wow, not that long ago, really it’s not in comparison to the 1700’s.  Anyway, I am praying we aren’t being dragged back to that time because for women, it wasn’t the best of times

Some of the things women could not do in the 1960’s

1.       Get a loan or a credit card unless married and the husband had to cosign.

2.       Serve on a jury.

3.       Go on birth control.  In some states, it was totally illegal and, if legal, only for married women.

4.       Get an “Ivy League” education.  Yale and Princeton did not admit women until 1969 and Harvard not until 1977 when they merged with Radcliffe.

5.       Equality in the workplace.  The Civil Rights Act was going through congress in 1964 (thanks to President Kennedy) and an amendment made it illegal for employers to discriminate because of gender. 

6.       Keep a job if you became pregnant.  I experienced this in 1969, I was fired because I became pregnant.

7.       And, that was just for white women, the list is probably pretty lengthy for women of any other color but white.  

I certainly don’t want to live in those times again and I don’t want my granddaughters or great-granddaughters to be treated so poorly.  Therefore, before you jump on a train and because someone else tells you it’s a good thing to jump off a moving train, use your God-given brain and discernment and do some praying before you jump.