Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

These are words inscribed at the base of our Statue of Liberty, words that have welcomed and inspired our ancestors and now these words are merely broken promises. In fact, our tired and huddled masses are rejected and looked down upon. We have ignored completely the poor, tired and huddled victims that still sit in poverty after Hurricane Katrina. It is ironic, because many of our ancestors arrived through New York harbor with nothing more than the clothes on their back. It is the poor immigrants who have worked hard, with blood, sweat and even tears to build America for their future generations. Their dedication and ingenuity created the great infrastructure and lead the world in the industrial revolution. Now, we have let the infrastructure decay in lieu of our own desire for wealth and materialism.

Today, this land gives promise to the selfish and “Get Rich,” schemes; getting rich off of credit cards, get very rich when business is bad. It doesn’t matter who you exploit in the process. It doesn’t matter if you actions harm the national economy. Even President Obama has made claim, “There will be plenty of time to get rich, NOW is not the time.” These “Get Rich” schemes offer nothing only the shuffling of credit or an investment on paper. There is nothing tangible produced, nor service rendered. It is only money that collapses into a great abyss of nothingness. We make money and create riches with nothing to show, nothing produced. Do you think that is what the great ancestors of our nation wanted us to proceed? We are taking for granted all our ancestors have devoted to us, just like a rich kid from a wealthy family. And may I point out, what do the “Rich” truly contribute to society? What does Paris Hilton and Kim Kardarshian contribute other than entertainment for their debutante debauchery. It is the common man that keeps this nation’s wheels churning.

I take no issue with the desire for financial success in fact it is a goal I too possess. What sickens me is the desire for wealth in excess at the exploitation of others and a desire for richness with blindness to the events happening in our country. I watched Suze Orman answer online questions on a CNN broadcast. While others were worried about losing their jobs, feeding and sheltering their families, CNN had the nerve to broadcast this question, “I am inheriting 50 million dollars from my grandfather, how do I best invest my money to make more.” Goody two-shoes for richy, rich, but grossly offensive when ten percent of Americans are standing in unemployment lines with more to follow.

Another caller on CNN flaunted with great arrogance their spectacular credit score and how great they are with their finances. “How do I get by when others are screwing up the system?” Let me put this straight out there, if you are middle American making JUST enough money to pay the bills and feed your family-what happens when a car breaks down, home repairs, sickness or accidents. It doesn’t matter how good you are with paying your bills. You will go into debt. Empathy and compassion do wonders for a nation in crisis. Arrogance only exasperates the problem.

Here’s the thing. While the rich are worried about their riches and getting richer in a down economy, the people who actually RUN this country (the working class) are losing their jobs. How is this nation to survive if we don’t give respect to the people who are actually doing the work? I recently heard one complaint from a woman whose hairdresser went out of business. “Who’s going to style my hair?”

I’d like to remind those flaunting of their prowess of finances and the unconscious richy-riches of the French Revolution, as a class rift is seemingly growing wider and wider. Marie Antoinette may have fed her scraps to the peasants, but in the end, the peasants had her head.