Out and About – Week of July 15th

The subject of Immigration is one of the issues featured on the evening news these days, and is also a prime issue in the current race for President of the United States. I’m thinking the American Indians didn’t do a very good job when it came to dealing with the first immigrants coming to America. Later on, the American Indian wasn’t treated fairly. If you’ve never read “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”, I strongly suggest you do so. The U.S. Government didn’t treat the American Indians very well.

I’ve dealt with immigrants from Mexico over the years, and have nothing but good things to say about them. The majority of them are bi-lingual, which impresses me. I don’t know that many American citizens who have a true command of the English language, let alone the Mexican or Spanish language. I took two years of Spanish in high school and wish I had taken a couple courses of Conversational Spanish later on.

When discussing immigration, most of us think only of those immigrants coming across the Mexican border. I have yet to hear of any problem with Canadians sneaking into this country.

Here are some true facts on immigrants here in Michigan:

Michigan has a small but growing immigrant community. About 7% of the state’s residents were born in another country, and they make up a vital, educated share of Michigan’s labor force.
More than 40% of immigrants in the state possess a college or higher degree, and more than four in five report speaking English well.
More than half of all immigrants in Michigan are naturalized U.S. Citizens.
If you take a serious look at immigration, you’ll find that unless you have ancestors who were Cherokee, Comanche, Apache, Arapaho, or any other Native American, our ancestors were all immigrants.

I’m thinking we need to staff our borders with enough people to ensure that anyone desiring to call America home, can do so legally.

Five more ways to feel better about yourself and get along better with your fellow man:

Be kinder than necessary.
Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.
Keep your promises.
Learn to show cheerfulness, even when you don’t feel like it. I have difficulty with this.
Remember that overnight success usually takes about fifteen years.

Henry Ford was a pioneer in the automotive industry. He was a leader who made mistakes and knew enough about how to correct them. Here are a few of his quotes:

“Asking ‘Who ought to be the boss?’ is like asking ‘Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?’ Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.”
“Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.”
“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”
We don’t have a “Meijers” store in Three Rivers, but we do have a “Meijer” store. I visited Meijer the other day to pick up a few things. I wasn’t there more than just a few minutes, when an associate approached me and asked me if I needed help finding something. She walked me over to the proper aisle and made me feel welcome. They are making some big changes. We can help with the remodeling by being a little more patient.

S H A L O M!

Submitted by Norm Stutesman