New York Governor David Paterson Pardons Immigrants

We are all immigrants of sorts. It’s just a matter of how long we’ve lived (or our parents or grandparents) in a certain location. It depends on how far back we go into the history of our family, maybe even the history of the country – and if you want to stretch your imagination a little bit, even the history of our planet. I’ve read that once upon a time, when planet Earth was merely an infant planet, there were no life whatsoever on this. None at all. It was a collaboration of many beings from different planets who came to our Earth and “seeded” life. Yep, “seeded” – this word always make me pause, trying to wrap my brain around the concept of being “seeded.” So, depends on how far back we want to go into the past, once upon an immemorial time, we were immigrants, not natives of this Earth. In a much more recent era, this land was inhabited by different tribes of native Americans. There were no other races here.

We human beings tend to forget that we live on a shared planet. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our daily lives, trying to make a living and survive, we hurt other human beings with our thoughts of separation, our actions of violence, our words that sometimes maim and hurt or incite hatred. Thank God that there are also plenty examples of wonderful human beings who, by their way of life, remind us that we are more noble than the selfishness of our habits – Krishna, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Prophet Muhammad, Kabir, Gandhi, Mother Theresa and many, many more.

I think it’s wonderful that Governor David Paterson didn’t deport the “immigrants.”

"The individuals pardoned committed past offences but paid their debt to society. They now make positive contributions to our state and nation, and I believe they should be protected from inflexible and misguides immigration statutes.”

He even created a review panel in May 2010 for all cases of immigrants pending deportation, saying it was “abundantly clear that the federal government's immigration laws are often excessively harsh and in need of modernization.” Governor Paterson is the kind of governor that I’d like to be in office. He has compassion for his fellow human beings. Who was it that said, “Rules are made to protect human beings, not human beings protecting the rules.” Something like that. Kudos to the New York governor for his wisdom! (Too bad he's no longer the governor of the Big Apple.)

Wouldn’t it be great if one day we can travel anywhere in the world without the need of a visa? Wouldn’t it be marvelous if we longer label ourselves citizens of Earth instead of a tiny little country? I'd like to live to see that day.