July 28, 2011

ST. SIMONS ISLAND. Ga. -- It was a matter of putting in time until twilight when there loomed the possibility of a breeze in a sunless sky.

However, I wouldn't complain since the states north, south and west of me actually had it worse during these July days. Our daily heat index registers between 102 and 105 degrees before noon.

So, I've been sitting around reading - or, not reading - but perusing page after page of the magazines piling up until that day I venture out where lower temperatures and humidity make it possible to breathe and read at the same time.

I just skimmed through the July 11-18 New Yorker and nothing caught my eye until I saw an ad showing a handsome man who looked like he was modeling a traditional black suit. The handwritten caption was signed Lawrence O'Donnell and I mistakenly thought he was the well known Larry O'Donnell, popular as President Kennedy's close friend. I realized my mistake when I found the friend of bygone years was Kenny O'Donnell. Oh, well, I lazily thought, they were all Boston Irishmen.

Lawrence O'Donnell is an MSNBC Host and the advertisement was called LEAN FORWARD. It meant nothing to me until I started to read the handwritten message above his signature. If I hadn't been so sluggish I would have jumped out of the chair. Instead, I visualized light bulbs flashing over my head. I read it again and then again.

I never, ever, heard that line spoken nor seen it written.

"This country was built on a very simple idea: We all aren't here yet. With more people and more ways of looking at the world, we will have better ideas. IMMIGRATION IS AN ADDED VALUE TO THIS COUNTRY. It always has been. - Lawrence O'Donnell"

I grew up with immigrants from Italy, Germany, and Ireland. The kids were American and their parents had been born somewhere else. There was no distinction and it worked very well for all of us. We didn't even talk about differences except when (as children do) we jokingly used ethnic remarks to tease, not degrade our neighbors.

In other words, they were here, they were us. We once came here and we all were better off here. But it never occurred to any of us that "We all aren't here yet."

I liken it to a crowded subway car where those who are sitting will scrunch over to make room for another to fit in. I've always found that everyone is more comfortable after that. It's just a matter of making room.

I'll assume the line that jolted me was original with Lawrence O'Donnell but I wonder why I never thought of it that way. I don't feel so hot and bothered anymore.

   

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