Thoughts
4/25/00
Well, seeing as this is the first essay I am presenting to the world, I think I should touch on something that is close to home. Something that will allow anyone first making contact with me to get a glimpse of my 'being'. Yeah, whatever. This essay is going to touch on the Elian story which is all over the news. When you are done reading this you'll have a better understanding of who I am and my stance on a few issues. I welcome your feedback and look forward to reading some passionate messages!
First off let me state that I do NOT know all the facts, there are many who know every detail about this issue... down to what kind of sunglasses the INS agent driving the "get-away" van wore that morning. I also do NOT know what it is like to live in Cuba or under communism, although if some members of the Cuban-American population are correct in their statements that Bill Clinton is a communist, then maybe I do... but I'm going to assume that all I am familiar with is democracy. That is my disclaimer, and although there are a lot more things that I do not know, we'd be here all day if I tried to list them.
Ok, let's work this through from the beginning. Elian was taken from his father by his mother. They boarded some sort of water-traversing contraption with other Cubans. The only one left is Elian. I'm going to give my first opinion here... rather than holding the mother as some sort of martyr, thinking she gave her life so that her son could have freedom, why aren't we saying this woman placed her child in extreme danger? freedom may be great, it may be the greatest thing to 'have' in this world... oh, no wait, I know what is better to have... life. I know there are people who will argue that life is not worth living under certain circumstances, but I've never heard a dead person say that. Ok, so then Elian is rescued by a couple fishermen. Now here is where things get kind of weird for me. How does a 6 year old boy get placed in the custody of his cousin? How is it we deport people every day but we have no place for this boy to stay while a phone call is made to Cuba to find out where he belongs? Well, Elian experienced some severe trauma, he deserved to be in the care of people who love him. So I agree with the decision to place him with his cousin. Now comes the fun stuff. Let me first make this statement... the US is a nation based upon freedom. The founders of this country fled oppression and established this great nation to protect the individual freedoms of each of us. And we have specific methods in which this is done. Those methods are known as laws. Laws are not established by some mysterious being, they do not suddenly appear. We as a whole make those laws speaking through our representatives. Having said that, let us continue. The INS handles immigration. The INS handles deportation and naturalization. The INS has specific laws it must adhere to. The INS made a ruling about Elian. So, in the spirit of democracy, the Gonzalez family challenged the INS ruling. Now, I will not speak about the different legal manuevers on both sides. I believe that this single person should not bear any more importance than any other immigrant who does not enter this country through legal channels. As it is, Cubans coming to this country have the most leniant set of laws as far as remaining in this country. That is another issue. So, we now have a stand-off. Those who believe Elian should remain in the US versus those that believe the boy should be sent back to a communist nation in which he will have no freedoms and will most likely go on to live a horrible life... with his natural parent. Let's think about Cuba. No freedom. Do we need to think about anything more than that? Do we really think it is morally acceptable to condemn a child to that sort of life? All the laws I spoke about as the basis of upholding our freedom would be ripped away from him. Elian would have no say in how his home was ruled. Every basic freedom we take for granted, speech, assembly, etc, would be dreams for Elian in Cuba. After all, didn't I say this country was established by those seeking freedom? Sure was, now we are going to take freedom away from a 6 year old? The Statue Of Liberty... give as your poor blah blah blah... Elian would fit into that category. As a parent, wouldn't you want your child to have a chance at a good life rather than doom him or her?
In summary, although the circumstances surrounding Elian are tragic, we must obey our own standards of democracy, that is what our great nation is about. In addition, tragedy is not restricted to Elian, there are thousands that have equally tragic stories that are turned from our soil every year. Elian remaining in the US is not a solution to the problem of communism, there are still millions in Cuba. If this nation, as a whole, is truly concerned with communism then we, as a whole, should take action to resolve the probelm. Not to mention, if a US citizen was being held by relatives in Cuba what would our response be? What gives us the right to hold foreign citizens? A 6 year old cannot decide where he wants to live, no matter how much he likes Disney World and bid screen tv's. Here is my thought, if you don't already know... Elian must be returned to his father, he must be allowed to return to Cuba as long as his father wants that to be the case. If his father asks for political asylum, or takes whatever steps necessary to legally remain in this country than so be it. Until that happens, we must obey our own set of laws. Because after all, without laws this nation would be choas... it would not be a nation. Without our system of laws the 'strong' (wealthy, armed, etc) would rule the country... sound like anyplace you know of?
I hope my view on this issue, as uneducated as it is, at least makes some of you question your stance, or at least understand another view.
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