On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:53:04 -0800 (PST), mlcorson
wrote:

On Nov 29, 1:30 am, Don Foreman
wrote:

When I arrived, some church lady was there with a couple of
sorry-lookin' "poor refugees from Somalia" (read illegals) scavenging
and scrounging.

Yes, Don this is is indeed a sad story. Perhaps you should not share
it. Coming from a fairly recent heritage of immigrants; to me your
story illuminates your prejudices.

Then you misread it. It noted my observations of events and
behaviors. How one presents (sorry-lookin') is a form of behavior
and matter of attitude. Fine raiment and sartorial splendor are not at
all necessary to be presentable when visiting another.

BTW, my grandparents were immigrants, my daughter is a legal immigrant
in another country, and my son in law is a wonderful young man of
color that we fondly think the world of.

Sorry, that you think my family
has taken so much from America and given so little back.

Did I say any such thing? Not even close! If your description fits
your family, it's not too late for you to change it. You can't change
what they have or haven't done, but you can certainly govern your own
behavior and contributions.

This group must have really hit your buttons...Somoli (black), poor, desperate,
uneducated and prone to stealing. Just your opinion.

No, that's your opinion. I made no mention of color, education, nor
of any predisposition for theft. I said they were Somali because I
was told as much. Inferences you note above are entirely yours, don't
attribute them to me.

Illegal or not,
Don you just don't understand the desperation and fear (of death) some
of these people had to face in their "parent" countries in order to
get here.

I understand that I must obey the law. Illegal means "against the
law" regardless of one's circumstances. You have absolutely no
knowledge of what I've seen or what I might or might not be able to
understand.

Because they have limited resources they are dependent on
"church ladies" to help them find furniture, sheets, beds, etc.

No problem. It was there for them to have, freely offered and freely
given, with my wife and I helping. That situation exists because of
another's misfortune, there's no reason one of limited resources
couldn't help carry a load of debris downstairs along with the good
stuff, rather than leave that part to seniors there to help. Their
limited resources don't seem to have resulted in malnutrition or
inability to carry out heavy stuff they wanted.

Sorry about your cell phone, hope you find it. G-d bless America.

I don't care about the cellphone. I do care about having people in my
neighborhood who'll grab anything that isn't nailed down while
availing themselves of someone's generosity.

One of these guys was a gentleman, polite and willing to help with
some of the work as well as help himself to that which was offered.
The other was none of that. The first is welcome, the second is not
as far as I'm concerned.