I didn’t get a vote about where I was born. I was delivered into this world and later learned that I live in the United States. Our citizenship comes with great privileges. We have rights and freedoms that individuals in other countries may never experience.
I grew up in Texas, in a community with immigrants, including individuals from Mexico. Immigrants were not strangers to me; they were my friends, neighbors, teachers and simply people. They have families, love their children, feel heartbreak, success, failure and rejection — just like you and I do.
In my twenties, I had the opportunity to live, work and travel in other countries. I learned other languages and was welcomed into other cultures. I cherish these memories and the deep friendships I made with people in other nations. They didn’t hold my background against me.
Today, I work in a place with people from Ireland, Venezuela, Brazil, India, Switzerland and other countries. They were born in these places through no choice of their own. Like me, they decided to make Montana their home. They have families, love their children, feel heartbreak, success, failure and rejection — just like you and I do. They contribute time, skills and money to our community, making the Flathead Valley a better place to live. I’m proud to call them neighbors.
I believe cultural experiences make better, kinder and more thoughtful humans. And we could use more of that in our world right now. I had no choice about where I was born, nor did you, but we do have a choice to help others in need. We can help by demanding an end to inhumane immigration policies and the current hateful rhetoric. In the mid-term elections, vote for candidates who protect immigrants and their families, not demonize them.
Shannon Freix
Kalispell