Mom and Pop, part two

I blogged the other day about immigrants, and two stories in particular, and how we all, basically, are immigrants. If you think about it, we are all immigrants in all kinds of ways. None of us are actually from here. And by here, I mean America. We say we are, but we are only two or three or four generations from-here. My ancestors, as much as I can trace, are three-fourths not-from-here. One grandad was Cherokee. (Not full, but I think half, not exactly sure...records on that side get cloudy. Funny how I would love to prove we're part Indian, but back then, my people wanted anything but...wanted to cover it up. There's a point in my family tree where the last name of a relative is left off; we think that's where the Cherokee comes in.)

On the other side, the records are just as murky. I can trace my grandmother's people back to the "French," not the country, the last name, the same that the river is named for...French Broad River. (Family story=not clear if it's true.) Somewhere on that side is Greek or Italian, where the olive skin and dark eyes come from. My other Grandma is part Irish (where my mom's fair skin and blue eyes come from.)

Like all families, my people, over the years, have worked many different jobs, but the most prevalent job throughout is farming/owning a business. If you think about it, we pretty much all came from farmers, as our grandparents and their parents grew much of their own food. My Grandma tells me stories of her as a girl, and the pigs they kept in a field across from their house, their cow, their "smokehouse," where they cured meat, their chicken house, and of course, their garden.

Farming being more survival than job, probably the one job I can trace more than any other would be "business owner." My dad and brother own the company my dad started years ago, his dad owned a meat-store (You rarely see THAT anymore), I own a store...and as you go back through family records, we could probably trace a line all the way to our Ellis-Island ancestors and their mom-and-pop stores.

I can't figure it out completely, but as far as I can tell, our American family tree probably was planted in the late 1700's, as the first of my ancestors stepped off a boat, went through the lines at Ellis, and ended up in Baltimore. Like many back then, he found a job sweeping floors for an older Irishman who owned a little shop. They trusted each other, knew some of the same people, knew each other's families. The shop owner, who had no children, left the shop to the young Irishman, and he, his wife, and his chldren lived over the shop for many years.

Through time, however, children grew up, moved away, the shop closed, the young Irishman became an old man. I don't call myself Irish, I call myself American, due in part to the journey of this young man.

This isn't the only story like this in my family, this is just one, but the point is, we are all here because of the journey of someone else. We forget that. Someone the other day called my store a "mom-and-pop" store. This person meant it as a compliment, and that's how I took it, too. I hope I always create that feel in my store. Being a "mom-and-pop" store is a blessing, a symbol to me of something we've lost, a way to connect with the past and what it means to own a little piece of the pie.

Another way we are all immigrants is spiritually. "Be in the world, but not of the world." Isn't that what we've been taught? As Christians, we are here for a little while, stewards of what we've been given, a people just "passing through." While we're here, are we supposed to squabble over who gets in our country and who doesn't? Aren't we supposed to "love our neighbors?" Or only love our immediate neighbors and not anyone else? I don't know how to end the arguments/battles over immigration policies, but I do know these simple truths:
1. We are all here, first, by the grace of God. It's his world, his country, not ours.
2. We are here, second, by the work/sweat/tears of those that came before us. Very few of us today are here because of anything WE did.
3. We are all immigrants, one way or anohter.

Now, how do you write THAT into policy? THAT should be the question.