To all those contemplating illegally crossing the border into another country:
Please don't do it.
The collateral damage you will incur is simply not worth your moderately monetarily improved life, and chances are, you will lose it all in the end.
Philosophically, in an utopian world, everyone should be able to go wherever they want whenever they want.
But, that is not the world that we were born into.
In this world, you knock before you enter someone's home. Even if the door is wide open, you politely stand to the side and call in through the open door for the resident. You don't just walk in. Most of us would never dream of opening the door and walking right in, and there are legitimate reasons for that.
Most of us.
However, there are people who think that it's okay to walk into someone's house without asking permission, or even knocking on the door.
There's something wrong with that mindset.
I'm sure there are some streets in this great State of Ohio that have real emergencies going on as we speak that would necessitate fleeing from one's house into another - say a fire, an assault or a burglary - without stopping to take the time to knock. Of course you can imagine that in those instances, the person who lives in the home might be open to helping, and fling open the door to aid that person's refuge - but he might not. That would be his right, too.
He might stop you at the front door with a shotgun. Also, his right to do.
Because see, maybe the person fleeing set that fire. Maybe the person fleeing committed the burglary. The homeowner can't know. In emergency situations, there's no way to vet the fleeing person, so you sort it out later, after lives have been presumably saved.
Real "refugees" are few and far between, but many have learned the benefits of refugee status, and the word about how to behave as a refugee has spread. The same goes for illegal immigrants. It's an underground cultural mindset and market, complete with human-trafficking coyotes and networks of places to obtain any and all necessary paperwork.
But, just like a knock at the door, the United States has green cards.
If you're a good person, with good intentions and little means, there are roads for you to walk to safety, or a better life in another country.
But you have to knock first.
If you don't knock on my door, and want inside my house, I'm going to assume you want something inside, and you don't want to ask me for it. You want to steal something from me.
Coming to another country - any country - without knocking first, is akin to throwing up at least one red flag, if not more, to the residents of the home country. It says you have a sense of entitlement, that you think you can have whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want it, without having to ask for it, or go about the moral way of getting it.
It says that you have contempt for the moral codes of the country in which you squat. It shows that your sense of morality is somewhat skewed, and might lead to criminal behavior.
To me, anyone who illegally enters another country without the excuse of legitimately running for their lives, is a thief, and a potential burglar.
You're stealing a better life in that country by not paying for it the way the rest of the populace does. When you sneak in anywhere, you have no intention of paying the admission, and that is just not fair, nor is it the decent, moral thing to do. Currently, we all have to pay to live on this planet. Every country has their own version of rent and admission - illegal immigrants thumb their noses at that. And while I would admire that nose-thumbing from an altruistic standpoint, your sole purpose in illegally immigrating would have to be for the sole purpose of rebelling against the status quo, not the pursuit of your personal happiness.
To me, illegally immigrating to another country says that you value your pursuit of money and things over the right way to do something, to achieve something. It shows a basic lack of moral character, and we all know that gaps in moral character, also called moral turpitude, are often hallmarks of potential and eventual criminal behavior.
Forming entire communities in another country without doing it within the laws of the host country is insane, for so many reasons. It is also disrespectful to the people among whom you intend to live. The lies you will have to tell and fraudulent paperwork you will have to acquire will build a cage around you, and anyone you fall in love with, create, bring with you, or send for. Those lies endanger legal residents that you build your stolen life with.
I know. I fell in love with an illegal immigrant. Once you realize the import of someone's status in this regard, it's often too late. The deed has been done. The love connection made, the children created, the life built. All on a lie.
Lives built on lies collapse. I married an illegal immigrant, and he got deported.
The ramifications of a deportation are akin to a death. The person is just gone. Their support, in all ways, is gone.
In our case, we lost a husband and a father of three sons. We lost a livelihood, and I lost my ability to have only one job, my children. Now, I must find a way to do it all.
I'm not mad at the system, though. The system works. I'm mad at the mindset of illegal immigrants. I wish people would elevate their moral consciences, and encourage those around them to elevate theirs.
I wish people would just do things the right way, the first time around.
This is a heartfelt plea to stop illegally immigrating to foreign countries.
The lives you destroy just might not be your own.
