Post 3.1

When reading The New Colossus: Exploring the Idea of Border, by John Washington, I felt a sense of anger in his voice. But not the kind of anger like he wanted to hurt someone. The kind of anger that just wanted to be heard and wanted anything for things to change. Reading this story, I get the side of the author that is giving us all of this information and facts because like he said, his mother crossed over the border illegally as well. Perhaps this passage is not only about the Mexicans that struggle everyday, but the anger he has inside knowing that his very own mother went through the same thing at one point in her life. Judging by all that he has done for the migrants, he is possibly giving back to his mother. But in a way that is not really giving to her, but actually to the millions just like her. He has a heart for these illegals and shows it in the best possible way he can. He believes that there should be a better way of handling the immigration laws a lot better. "Asking migrants why they cross the border, why they leave their homes and family, the answer is almost always, in some form or another, to survive, to give their children or their spouses or themselves a fighting chance".(pg.253) And thanks to people like John, the unfortunate migrants being sent back to cities they have never seen once in their lives, have someone waiting with aid and a good face to look up on. The fact that some of the migrants actually let out their feelings and unfortunate events  to John, means only one thing, that they were comfortable with him. "I think of Ignacio, a 57-year-old man I met in Nogales last summer. He told me his story of trying to cross the desert to reunite with his daughters in Atlanta. He got lost in the desert, spent days wandering, following cows to water tanks, drinking dirty water, succumbing to bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, delirium". (pg.253) I'm sure it doesn't take a lot for a migrant to feel comfortable with someone who is trying to help them especially after the horrible things they have been through for the past days or weeks, it still says something that these people that know not one thing about John, can confide in him and trust him. It is definitely clear in the story that John believes in helping make better lives for Mexicans. This is told through personal stories, and tough facts to even read about. To me, it sounds like John is an angel in the form of a man to these migrants. All that he does for them is something that he is not bound to. He does not have to be spending his time giving back to people that really have done nothing for him, but the fact that he does only says so much about his character. John is obviously comfortable enough with his identity, that he can speak so supportingly about those of migrants. John seems like a good person that only wants better for migrants, and I am happy I was given the opportunity to read this story by him because things I have heard previously about immigration were nothing like the facts I read about in this story.