Mood:
irritatedTopic: "Guest Workers (2)"
To your left, dear reader, there is an alphabetical list of topics. Refresh your memory, and look back to what Frodo called "Nkosi."
Frodo discussed a book about a very special young man, and a very special human tragedy. The young man, you may recall, was born with the AIDS virus, and he died at an incredibly young age. In his short life he did a great deal to publicize the despair that was brought upon his people because, well, for a lot of reasons.
Nkosi was born of a people with a very strong family unit as part of their society. The family units began to disassemble because the agrarian lifestyle did not offer the economic opportunity which working in the diamond mines put forth. The diamond mines were far away, so the men left their families behind while they went to work as "guest workers." Frodo assumes, at this point, that his theme is about to become apparent.
The men lived in compounds with other men for long periods of time. Prostitution was, as it has always been, increasingly commonplace. Sexually-transmitted diseases of all kinds are a corollary. When the men did return to their families, they brought the diseases with them. The result being the thousands of children born to die at an early age, including the protagonist, and his Mother.
For the President of the United States to suggest that a "guest worker" program be implemented to provide greater economic opportunity to "Latinos" is an obscenity. It reflects his total unfamiliarity with the nature of the human tragedy in Africa, and points the way to a similar conflagration in the spread of disease, and the destruction of family units in the Latino societies. His assumptions reflect the closely-held input which shapes his public policy. It is an extremely dangerous and ill-advised direction.
Illegal immigration into the United States of America has meant that two things have been happening. First, entire families have, as the Joads of Oklahoma once did, uprooted themselves from their homes and sought new lives together. Secondly, they have been accompanied by extended family-members who share quarters and send resources back. Even in this illegal environment the family has remained as the focal point, in total contrast to Nkosi's family. As long as the family units remain intact, the violence and the social evils are lessened.
There is a true clear and present danger on the horizon. Bringing in "guest workers" does not connote their families coming with them. Any public policy which fosters such an environment creates a potential for a tragedy on a Biblical scale.
Perhaps it is time to read another old book, and to think about the plagues of the Old Testament. How ironic that the evangelical President should so tempt Fate? How Frodo wishes that George W. Bush could hear people cry.
Posted by loveysdaddyga
at 9:01 PM EDT
