Coming to America

Lesley's Blog

On 7/7/77 I left my homeland of Britain and emigrated to the United States of America. Unlike other immigrants, I was moving to a country where I could speak the language and would be welcomed by a loving, supportive community. Although money was tight initially, we certainly did not have to be concerned about how we were going to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. I did have some things to learn, like driving on the "wrong" side of the road, but the learning curve was not steep and the adjustment did not take long. At first making regular phone calls and returning to Britain for a visit were not possible but it was not many years before that changed and I was able to talk to and see my family regulary, diminishing some of the pain of separation.

I often reflect, even after so many years, on how difficult it must be for immigrants who arrive with little of no knowledge of the language and who come from cultures very different from here. The bravery that it takes to survive and hopefully eventually thrive under such circumstances is to me unimaginable. For those people who come as refugees, fleeing from war or persecution and the threat of death, often leaving everything behind and arriving with massive posttraumatic stress and little else, my admiration is even greater.

Whatever the circumstances, the promise of a new life is tempered by a deep sense of loss. There is the loss of country, the land that was our home and is embedded deep on our heart, the loss of culture, the loss of family and friends and a familiar way of life with all its complexities.

Much as my life in the United States has been very positive, I still miss my homeland. I miss family and ways of daily living that are different from my life here and I miss the land itself. It is not that I feel it is better, just different and I miss it.

Humans have always moved beginning with their origins in Africa from where our ancestors slowly but relentlessly moved to all areas of the globe. Eventually there was no more "empty space" that was habitable and inevitably this ongoing movement resulted sadly in conflict. We all know the rhetoric that "America is built on immigrants" and part of that is true but only because the indigenous population (whose ancestors had also emigrated from somewhere else at some unknown time) had not grown sufficiently in numbers that the immigrants (who were from many countries) were not considered by the immigrants themselves to be an equivalent of an invading nation. And of course, the Native American nations fought amongst each other so that groups were forced to move depending on their relative strengths.

For many immigrants, especially in past centuries, coming to America required an amazing amount of courage, strength and perseverence as hardship was rampant and "success" did not come easily. Often it was only the next generation who benefited from the hard work and suffering of the initial immigrants.

In the United Kingdom, the Irish potato famine resulted in thousands of starving and poverty stricken individuals leaving Ireland to arrive in America without resources or job skills. Equally as devastating were the clearances in Scotland. Just like in America when settlers wanted the land and cleared the local populations of Native tribes, sending them to designated areas by such means as "The Trail of Tears", so the English landlords cleared the land of families who had farmed there for generations. Emigration was one of the few options available to those destitute souls but the price for many was their lives. Some of the boats became known as "coffin" ships, overloaded with immigrants and with limited supplies, so that disease and death were rampant. Even if you survived the journey you might be refused entry because of illness or robbed of what little you had either on the boat or when you landed. And so it continues today, people suffering hardship and risking death to come to America to make a better life for themselves and their loved ones.  

Eric's grandparents emigrated from Poland and like many sons and daughters of immigrants in those days, his father was determined to learn the new ways and forget the old. Although that is understandable, it resulted for Eric in a loss of much of his cultural heritage and a complete disconnection from any family who remained in the "old country".

Fortunately, things are changing and now there is an increased acceptance and interest in cultural history which continues to enrich our society, adding to the riches already bestowed on this country  by millions of immigrants from every corner of the globe. 

I know that there is now a lot of controversy about immigration, fears that it is out of control and something needs to be done. It is a difficult, complex and thorny issue and of course everyone has different views. I certainly am not suggesting that I have the corner on rightness or truth. But my dearest wish, as an immigrant, is that whatever is done is based on decisions from the heart and not from a stance of fear or scarsity.