I have come a long ways.. Take me in Oh Shining City of My Dreams..
“Excuse me sir, might I ask you for some direction? Where is America? Which way is it?”
“You see sir, I have come, for I had heard from this man called Ronald Reagan- he says, “America is a shining city upon a hill…”
“You see sir, I’ve come to see that city…it must be so grand.. so bright.. so gay. It must be a very happy place, you see I’ve not known what is happy. I’ve never known what is gaiety. All I have known is scarcity.”
“I sir, would like to march up that hill if I may be so bold to say– I had a dream and that city must be it– surely sounds like it!”
“So sir, my goal now is to walk up there- and to partake in that gaiety, in that plenty, in that harvest, in that festivity of men because I’ve never known what those things are, sir…”
“If I must pay another price of admission, then I must sir, so be it. I am willing to do so sir.”
“I swear that I have earned the goodwill of thee America, to set foot in thee’s blessed land of plenty, land of promise, land of the free, land of opportunity, as long as, so I’ve heard– if I am willing to work for my passage, if I am willing to join the society of the greatest peoples on earth, and if so long as I will not burden any citizenry of my weight…”
“I promise, sir, I will pull my own, as I have with my family back home, I promise I will…”
“…just let me in sir, and point me to the direction, I will carry my load and go on– for you don’t know it sir, I aim to make me my fortune!”
“Why sir, that’s what I’ve heard happens to people who come to America… and I am willing, I am able, I have the will as I have before coming here from my country– weathered the storm in God’s hands I made it here…”
“And you see sir– I had erased in my vocabulary the word “impossible”, as I have proven- there is no such thing!”
“For if there was, how do you swim the seas that divide where I’m from, to this city upon this hill? If there was, I wouldn’t have made it.”
“So thank God the merciful, and the graceful- for sure He had made me strong to make the journey although it’s been long, and He had guided me to find my way in the dark, to the door of this Promised Land.”
“I had made a solemn prayer in my darkest of darkest moments, ‘God please help me, guide me, show me the way everyday, take care of me..’ and He had answered, that I felt.”
“He knows my dream and my desire- although I know not what was the plan. In Him I entrusted the whole of me, even if it looked dark and cloudy, certainly I thought HE IS THERE! and so on I went…”
“I prayed for my upcoming child, for sure- I will have one, or make it my children; to never be in sight of desperate horrible moments. All I needed was to be let in. All I needed was the opportunity. Opportunity is all I ask and I will do the rest… certainly sir, you understand?”
“…And so God had taken me this far aways from my home. Here I am sir on this spot on God’s green earth…. Please sir, show me… WHERE IS AMERICA?”
-the immigrant traveler
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