At the grocery store, as we were shopping for our Thanksgiving meal, I said hello to a man appearing to be from south of the border.
He answered with a greeting of his own, then just paused in front of me, as if to invite further conversation.
So, I asked if he was from Mexico, asked why he came here (he came for employment), and asked about his family.
Oh, there are questions I should have asked, that didn't come to my mind right then, but I learned some from him. I didn't ask how often he goes back to Mexico, or why he never goes back to stay, that I might learn why he still chooses America over Mexico.
But, I learned he had been a gang member. He told me he had done bad things. I pressed, What bad things? What did you do? He declined to be more specific, just saying they were bad.
He had a kind, gentle look about him, and when he told me he had changed his life, I believed him. I wish I had asked him if America had provided him that chance to change. I feel he would have said it had.
As I sit here, thinking now, I think of how this should be the way with anyone who starts slipping into crime, or into friendships with those who negatively affect us. We should get away. Move all the way across the country, if we have to.
Or, move to another country. I'm grateful that option was open to Alfredo. While he told me he came for a job in the automobile industry, it does seem he escaped a life of crime by coming here.
In past blogs, I have agreed we should screen criminals out, as we make our rules for who shall be allowed to come to America. I still feel much that way. But, I am grateful for Alfredo's coming, for his being allowed to come. In his situation, coming to America seems like the right thing to have let happen.
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