As I watched video feeds from CNN and CBS, I was struck, no, staggered by the numbers of people who made up the May Day marches around this magnificent country ouf ours. I am not in the business of making public policy and have no idea what the solutions are regarding all the consternation over immigration issues. But I do know that the vast majority of us, are descendants of immigrants who may or MAY NOT have come to this country legally.
Last night I was walking and trying to meditate on the day's events and the lyrics to a song about John Lennon reverrberated in my mind. Lennon, the great songwriter and performer, and for those of you under 45, one of the two founders of a little group called The Beatles, was hounded by the FBI because of his anti-war stance and his VISA was revoked. Deportation was threatened. Before his death in 1980, Lennon earned his status as an American citizen.
The song about Lennon is as follows:
Harbors open their doors for a young searching foreigner...
Come to live the light of the big L of liberty...
Plains and open skies, billboards would advertise
Was it anything like that when you arrived?
Dreamboats carried the future to the heart of America
People were waiting in line for a place by the river.

It was a time when strangers were welcome here...
Music would play they tell me the days weresweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room
That people would come from everywhere.

Now he arrives with hopes and his heart set on miracles
Come to marry his fortune with a handfull of promises
To find they've closed the door, they don't want him anymore
There isn't anymore to go around.
Turning away he remembers he once heard a legend
That spoke of a mystical land called America.

There was a time that strangers were welcomed here
Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room
That people would come from everywhere.

Do you think the Statue of Liberty has dropped her torch and now extends her hand like a traffic cop who whistles stop?