Re-embracing Colossus

Perhaps the most un-American saying uttered by many Americans is some form of "if you don't agree/like (name the policy or idea), then you should leave."

It disgraces what America is and always has been about. It totally ignores history and in fact is just plain ignorant. America is a place of opportunity and freedom, which inherently means diversity and being a melting pot society. Such tribalism and arrogance of thinking one subset of our population is the only one that should be citizens in this great union flies in the face of what the founders and builders of this nation have done for 200 years.

May we always be generous enough with our beliefs to allow for difference of opinion and ideas. Embrace diversity and differing ideas/culture. Let us not fear that which is different.

Etched upon the base of the Statue of Liberty is the New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. It's concluding lines are the perfect reminder of what America is:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” 

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