On Immigration

The impulse to immigrate, to expand, to grow in ways that are impossible where we are is so basic to every living being - from microbes to man. Every plant pushes its way into new territory. Every child at some time knows he or she must leave home. Combine that with repressive conditions in one's native land and the intense desire for a better life for one's children, and there you have it.

Couple that with fear of strangers, Bush-stoked fear of terrorism, a general paranoia in the American population, and you see our native open heartedness turn sour.

I say we should welcome immigrants for the fresh new desire they bring! We all came from immigrants, except for the natives and those who came as slaves. We are all working our way to better lives as best we can. Let's face up to this mesmerism of fear we've been under and deflate it with spiritual appreciation for what we all are - each one a treasured child of God, no matter where we came from.

Somehow we need to get back to that beautiful shining sense of what America is for, get out there on the growing edge of it, meditate on it until there is no more confusion in our hearts. We will grow into the free people we have always aimed to be, safe and unafraid to offer what we have, because we know there is always more.

Gail Murray 3/15/07