Sylvanna Devlin

Sooo…

Time to breathe!

It’s easy to focus on the negative. But don’t forget, I was dubbed, “The Happy Immigrant”.

A very English response to what they would have seen as a smarmy love letter to America because my birth country is like that.

But I’m American now. And we go in for that sort of thing.

Particularly these days when we really want to be reminded of the good in our country because cultural diversity is being squashed and minimized and more than half the country is entirely fed up with the other half and the feeling is mutual!

OMG America!

This was the land of the brave, remember, as in… oh wait let’s not make an Aldus Huxley reference here.

But the point is, the English stalwarts might have been annoyed with a “what took you so long, by the way these boats leak.”

But the rest of the war-torn inhabitants of the world were relieved to see tall American soldier’s lifting them out of hell!

It seems like a long time ago to our newest generation but not me. But American memory, by nature of the four year term is short. Trump would like more than two goes however so that four year election cycle is looking pretty decent now.

Actually.

The forefathers (most of them) knew what they were doing. Some stuff… meh we disagreed later about. But the constitution was far better than the Magna Carta and Most of the world based their constitution on the American one.

The French gave America the statue of liberty after they were inspired by American ideals.

Do you remember the plaque? Installed later on?

“Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”

We’ve lost our standing in the world and some don’t care. But we should. Because we were hero’s.

Immigrants too.

Don’t you want to live up to hero instead of spit on them?

We can do better.

Because some do.

I mentioned my life being saved, and the incredible resources for the homeless and mentally ill where I am.

Stigma has seemed like a huge problem in Portland. But I think it’s an extreme minority being very loud and abusive. I loved this city until a certain weapon was pointed my way.

I could again.

Just as I love this country. And the freedom to speak my mind. I would like to suggest some of us are tired of the bull crap from the rest. Thank you not-so-much!

Forgot battles over blog posts. This country isn’t built on fear of the tallest poppy. It sure has had issues with it. And some will (reasonably so) disagree as the abuse is so pervasive it certainly seems some citizens are oriented around fear.

But that’s not what we’re supposed to be about. We can do better.

And in America I, usually, do not get shot at for suggesting we return to our ideals- dropping our forefathers racism on the way.

Some communication channels are trying to make us afraid of each other.

Because it sells.

That’s such bull.

We need to stop fake news, overly sensational headlines and clickbait.

We are indeed becoming afraid to leave the house. Because the news is vile.

But we’re all like that.

So it’s not us is it?

It’s loudmouth abusive arses and the loud TV news channels pumping fear. One because it gives them a sense of power and control. The other purely because it makes money.

Maybe if they didn’t feel so powerless, the normalization of abuse would fade.

More reasonable news with less fear mongering might do it.

No.

It’s not all of America.

But all Americans are affected.