![]() ![]() She has performed delicate surgeries that have made the deaf hear again, and she knows she could have restored Beethoven’s hearing in half an hour, a thought that brings her the kind of satisfaction that can only come to someone who knows what symphonies and concertos her children heard when they swam in her belly as she sat swimming in the sound spilling from the walls of the grand old hall of the Moscow Conservatory. They do not know that your mother never wanted to leave this city, because she was born here and bore children here, and has friends and family here, and has removed the tonsils of hundreds of children. They do not see your parents, waiting in line for hours at the American embassy in Moscow, stamping their feet in the cold, holding their documents, practicing for their interview. To them, you are an abstraction, colored by their fear and their hate, or by their heartrending idealism. They don’t know the days of your life that you have already lived, and the stuff of your mind and the strength in your hands. Take just a second to click “ Like” and Share this Post with others.Thousands of miles away, people haggle over policy details, about whether you are a risk and a burden, or an asset full of potential, a victim, or a potential tool of foreign policy, but really they are talking about you, and the days of your life and how you will live them. What can each of us do to spread kindness to our fellow human beings today?ĭid you enjoy this post? Please go to the “ SHARE THIS” section below. How might our lives be improved if we embraced and valued those who would come here today seeking the same freedom and opportunities my ancestors achieved. We can turn our backs on meanness and hatred. Each of us can make the choice to be kind and accepting of one another. ![]() It is time to STOP THE MEANNESS and SPREAD THE KINDNESS. My goal this week is to value the lives of ALL those who have come here to continue to build this great nation and who seek a better life for themselves and their children. “I didn’t speak English when I immigrated to the United States. You can read Ioffe’s article in its entirety by clicking HERE. How is it we can we celebrate our own immigrant ancestors who came to this great nation, while at the same time we turn our backs on new immigrants who have same high hopes of perusing the American dream? Most my immigrant ancestors boarded ships and came to this land with the dream freedom, broader opportunities, and a better life for their daughters and sons. Many would say Ioffe and her family are not welcome here, that religious diversity is a detriment to our society, that there is no place here for new immigrants.Īs Ioffe points out, second generation Americans often tell ourselves we are different, and our ancestors’ path to this country was different and better from the Ioffe’s and other modern day immigrants and refugees.Īfter all, my family, most of whom have lived here for nine or ten generations, did not go to embassies, did not apply for visas, did not spend years jumping through bureaucratic hoops and being vetted, and most certainly did not ask permission of those already living here. They came for freedom, they came for opportunity.īut now, many in the United States would have us nurture a climate not unlike the one Ioffe escaped. She wanted better for her daughters.Īnd so, the Ioffe family made the long hard trek to the United States of America. Ioffe came to the realization that no matter how much her family assimilated, no matter how many relatives fought and died for their country, it would never be enough. The decision to emigrate to the United States was made by Ioffe’s mother, a practicing physician. She speaks to the religious persecution her family experienced. She shares her love of country-even for a country has betrayed and hurt you. Ioffe describes the long lines at the American embassy in Moscow, the endless forms, taking fingerprints, and practicing for interviews with immigration officials. The experience of refugee immigration, largely invisible to most Americans, becomes tangible and very real as she relates her story. Her words slice through political policy and help us understand the heart-wrenching feelings refugees endure. The piece is a first-person essay that brings to light the very personal emotions Ioffe faced as a refugee immigrant to this nation, immigrating here from the Soviet Union. On January 29, 2017, she published an article entitled, “ This is What It’s Like to Come to the United States as a Refugee.” Julia Ioffe is an American journalist who covers national security and foreign policy topics for The Atlantic.
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