Victims

It seems to me that our society is filled with victims. We seem to define ourselves as being wronged by this person or that group. I think part of the problem is our upbringing. We have been raised on praise.

Since Spock (Benjamin, not the Vulcan with deformed ears) our parents and teachers have sheltered our self-esteem at all costs. Earlier generations would have been met with, “Johnny, your problem is that you are lazy. You’d better get busy or you’ll fail this class.”

Now, Johnny gets stickers that read, “Good effort” and everyone worries that he has ADD or is gifted and therefore bored or perhaps is abused at home or needs a school breakfast or…… anything but unmotivated to take responsibility for his work.

And it’s no surprise that Johnny lets us make excuses for him.

The immigration problem is no exception. Since they don’t have the law in their favor, illegals seek sympathy in a number of ways. And it makes good copy, especially for the more liberal media outlets.

Here’s a sample of the victim role, always neglecting the underlying facts in the matter:
Mariana, age 23, is graduating from UCLA. Harvard has accepted her for an MA program in education. But she fears deportation and even getting a job because she is here illegally. But she turns to society for the answers; not her parents that brought her here illegally.

Tony, age 38, is separated from his wife and son. They were deported back to Poland three weeks ago, but Tony, a legal resident, stayed behind. All three are very sad and lonely. Poles are not granted asylum anymore because Poland is not a hostile nation. So, Janina agreed in 1995 to leave voluntarily, but she didn’t leave. Instead she stayed, gave birth to her son, and was later caught. Now, by law, she is barred from returning for at least 10 years. And Uncle Sam is the heavy, she is the victim.

Kunal, age 13, hoped to win the National Spelling Bee so he could draw attention to the deportation of his parents last year. You see, we don’t grant asylum to people from India.

The 2007 Springville Utah Folkfest has been cancelled. It seems that many of the foreign performing groups are unable to get visas because they are expensive and harder to get. Apparently some performers in the past have come here and overstayed their visas. Again, Uncle Sam is the bad guy.

Dreams Across America is a program to gather Catholic victims from around the country, put them on a train, and parade them around Washington, DC. None of these teenagers want to leave America. They like it here. Their parents brought them here for a better life. None of them denies that they are breaking the law. The demonstration was planned by the Catholic Church.

It’s funny they don’t have stories like this about all those people waiting for years on the other side of the border. Are they not victims?