Cranky Jennie ;-p

Unless you live under a rock, you have heard about the revised Arizona statute concerning illegal immigration.

I believe knowledge is power.  If you want to know what the statute says before you make judgments, click on the link below:

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

After reading it myself, the hullabaloo seems to be about Part I, section B.  It basically says that if a law officer suspects someone is an illegal alien, he can ask for documentation that proves citizenship.

Let me backtrack and just talk about illegal aliens first.  The U.S. is the greatest nation on Earth.  It is the Land of Opportunity.  Why wouldn’t people from oppressive, poor, and/or violent nations want to come here.

Every year,  people from all walks of life immigrate to this country.  It is not an easy process to complete and can take a very long time.  I have had quite a few friends from Canada who went through this process and it really was not simple.  Thankfully, they stuck with it and were eventually rewarded with U.S. citizenship.

This process is a major problem.  Since I’ve never personally gone through it, I will have to write hypothetically.  If this process was streamlined, I believe more people who opt to move here legally.  This is a situation where I believe interference from the federal government could improve the status quo.  Of course, since immigration is a bureaucratic institution, there are mounds of red tape to burrow through.  Reduce the red tape.  Run background checks.  This would require global cooperation, but may help squash the numbers of illegal immigrants.

What annoys me more than anything concerning this issue are all the name-callers out there.  They call Arizonans “racists”, “Nazis”, etc., but don’t offer any solutions.  I want to discuss each major accusation point-by-point.

Racists?  I don’t think so.  This isn’t about a person’s color or ethnicity.  It’s about people coming to this country illegally and then securing  jobs intended for it’s citizens.  Illegals use emergency rooms which drive up medical costs and schools that use state funds to education their children.  As a mother, I’m appalled that these children get special services, including ESL, all while taking away from my own children.

Racial Profiling?  Absolutely.  When I was seven months pregnant, I was pulled over at a security checkpoint.  Did I look like a terrorist?  I don’t think so.  The truth is, MOST terrorists look a certain way.  Most Mexican illegals look a certain way too.  So, how can Immigration NOT racially profile.  This “name” is simply ridiculous as far as I am concerned!

Nazis.  If I was a Holocaust survivor or a relative of one, I would be appalled.  AZ is not taking innocent people forcefully from their homes and leading them to their deaths.  First, illegal immigrants are not innocent.  They are guilty of being in this country without citizenship.  Second, they are not being led to gas chambers and systemically murdered while the world watched.  This “name” is a gross overstatement and those who have used it have degraded themselves to school yard bullies.

Is this law the right answer?  Parts of it are.  No one else is doing anything.  AZ Senator McCain has been asking for reinforcement at the border for years, whether it is a fence, additional border control agents or National Guard.  Violence has been spilling over the border for years.  Our government DOES have a duty to protect it’s citizens.

One more point: the Constitution.  I’ve heard some people say that illegals deserve protection under the Constitution.  I DON’T THINK SO.  You need to be a citizen for that!

I am glad that Governor Jan Brewer chose to DO something, since I personally like to be proactive.  Now that AZ has the world’s attention, maybe we’ll find a great, instead of decent, answer to this question.

Oh, and to San Francisco and St. Paul, cities who have decided to boycott AZ - way to punish the people of the state in an effort to take a stance against it’s government.  What a vindictive, petty thing to do. Should I call you racists now too?

Today my brother made a  comment that only a dumb husband (love you, M) could make: “All wives are bossy”.  As if!

There is never any rest for a mother.  We are not “bossy”.  We are Project Managers.  We are multi-taskers in the most extreme definition of the word!  How the hell do you think your life runs so smoothly, Mr. Husband?!

Wives and mothers are not solely responsible for themselves.  We’re also not solely responsible for people.  We have parents, grandparents, animals, houses (and for some, careers) to take care of.  Yes, there are some men that assume this role and there are also some who actually help pick up the slack.

In most cases, all this responsibility falls on women.  We’re not complaining.  We just like to be acknowledge from time to time.  We also do not react well to being called BOSSY.

There are so many things to consider: play dates, doctor appointments, dog walks, food shopping, bill paying, dance lessons, practices, etc. for MULTIPLE people.

Personally, I am the Queen of Lists.  I need to have a list or I will forget.  Plain and simple.  If I don’t write it down, it’s not getting done.  I’m a proponent of good old pen and paper.  Writing something down files it in my brain.  Seeing it written form simply reminds me.

I always, always, always have a “To Do” list.

When my kids complain that they don’t want to do something, I have to laugh.  I typically respond, “Yeah?  Me too”.  I have a whole list of things I don’t want to do.

If I don’t do them, what will happen?  Certainly, the world will not end.  What will happen is a lot of, “what do you means?”, instead.  What do you mean we don’t have milk?  What do you mean I have no clean underwear?  What do you mean we have late charges on that bill?

You see where I am going.

It’s not being bossy.  It’s being efficient.  If I get it done, my list shrinks (if only for a few minutes, since there is already an addendum).  Yes, it drives me crazy when someone says, “later” or when I wait 18 MONTHS for that valence to be put over the window.

The funniest is when they say, “how can I help?” and then forget to do something or complain about it!

To all you wives and moms out there, ignore the nay-saying, bossy-calling spouses and demand a great big Mother’s Day gift.  You certainly earned it!

I am a huge proponent of children becoming involved in something, whether it’s art, music, dance or sports.  I have a preference for sports since I spent  much of my childhood on a field or a court of some kind.  However, I do see the value in other avenues as well.

My main focus on getting children involved is the belief that children who are busy are less likely to get into trouble.  This is not always the case, but it seems that the majority of athletes and/or artists stay out of trouble.    Idle time equals trouble in my book.  When you have too much free time, you either think too much or act impulsively.

Lately, I’ve been trying to focus S on choosing a path.  She has played softball (if you can call picking flowers in the outfield, “playing”), soccer (as a toddler), dancing school (she did everything opposite since she’s a lefty), Brownies and basketball.  None of these things has really struck her fancy.

So, I asked her today why she didn’t want to play sports.  I should preface this by saying that she is a great runner and has fantastic eye/hand coordination.  Her problems are two-fold: lack of focus and refusal to take direction.  S likes to always be in a charge (as a little Miss Type “A”).  If she’s not interested, she’s not going to pay attention.  Softball is too slow.  When she played basketball, she was more concerned with socializing with her teammates that she ignored the ball. I am now on a soccer mission.

But back to my question!  (She’s not the only one who loses focus).  She responded by saying that sports “use up all my energy”.  Let me just say that S is the Energizer Bunny in cute almost-8-year-old-girl mode!  She is quite unlikely to ever lose energy!

Part of my determination in guiding S towards something (she also takes piano lessons, which she hates), is to show her all the benefits involvement has to offer.  First and foremost is FOCUS.  You have to pay attention when learning about a sport, how to draw, move to music or play an instrument.  Then there’s teamwork.  Nearly every job out there requires some sort of teamwork.    Playing together teaches reliance on others.  It’s that old, “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’”. You work together for a common cause.  Sports also teaches how to win and lose.  In my opinion, this is a huge life lesson.  Kids aren’t really taught how to lose these days (but that’s a whole different post).

I could go on and on.  The point is, if I can give my children the tools to succeed, why wouldn’t I at least TRY?

Yesterday, a dear family friend died.  While we don’t know the exact cause of death, we can speculate that it was either a stroke or a heart attack.

J was driving home, pulled over on the side of the road, drove for a few minutes and then crashed down an embankment.  According to the detective, he did not suffer, which is why we drew the aforementioned conclusions.  J was 58 years old.  Too young.

My father, who was very close friends with J, was obviously upset.  His death was completely unexpected.  For years, J suffered from seizures, so he should not have been driving.  He knew the risks.  Thankfully, his accident did not cause harm to another person.

My father is angry.  He doesn’t understand why J would drive.  I tried to explain to him that giving up driving would have meant giving up J’s independence.  That is a tough pill to swallow for most people.  I believe he made a calculated choice.  I want to believe he knew the warning signs of an oncoming seizure and believed he would not only notice them, but would have time to react and keep himself and others safe.

This brought us to a discussion of choices.  I believe most of life is about choices.  There are countless times when we don’t agree with another person’s choice.  But choices are the cornerstone of free will.  Without free will, we lose all sense of humanity.  Free will makes us who we are.

When we make choices, we don’t also factor in consequences.  This is where life’s lessons come into play.  I believe J must have felt “off” driving home, so he chose to pull off onto the side of the road.  With this choice, he possibly saved the lives of other drivers on the road.  That means, at least for me, that he died with dignity.

Every day,we make numerous choices.  We choose to get up for work or school.  We choose to eat breakfast, give our spouse and children a kiss, and stop at the stop sign.  The most important choices we make are those that affect others.  Unfortunately, not everyone follows this mantra.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked my children, “Well, how do you think YOU would feel if someone said that or did that to you?’”.  It’s the proverbial “put yourself in someone else’s shoes”.

Life is all about choices.  J’s choice to drive wasn’t a good, but perhaps his final choice to pull off the side of the road was a great one.  RIP.