Give me your tired, your poor.

You know how some rich people get their names put on new wings of hospitals? They make a huge donation to cover the cost of building it, and in consideration of their philanthropy it becomes.."The Sinatra Cancer Wing" or whatever.

I have recently had just such an honor bestowed upon me. Not long ago, a new wing was designed and built due directly to my contributions. So now if you go and look, you will see a sign leading you down the hall to the new addition........ The Brooklyn Center Pizza Hut is proud to present, "Jack's Stuffed Crust Dining Room"........
(I am so proud..sniff...sniff)

Now I don't want you to get the idea that I eat all the pizza myself. Often recording sessions go late at my studio and I am obliged to keep all the musicians happy and fed and that can add up to a lot of pies..

I have not been doing as much recording in the last year, and so both the frequency and size of my orders have been way, way down. However, I am finishing a huge project that I have been working on, and with super long hours, eating becomes something you do quickly. Sooooooo in the last 2 months, orders are again ...way up.

This gets me to the point of my post tonight.....(Alright Already!!!)

I have a new pizza delivery guy....... We did not get on very well when he first delivered. He thinks I insulted him, but I didn't, he just misunderstood me....You see, my old pizza delivery guy was a girl.... a very cute girl....very.........

Of course, this had absolutely no bearing whatsoever on my personal pizza ordering habits, ehem, but I think it might have been one of the reasons all my musician buddies would scream out pizza when I asked what everybody wanted for dinner on nights we recorded.

Anyway, the first time the new guy shows up, I ask him where my regular delivery person is. He gets really upset and start yelling at me!!!!! "What's wrong with me?" He starts waving that hot sleeve thing around in the air..."You think I can't deliver you pizza's? That I am against you?" I'm like.. "Whoa dude ..slow down" .... He does not speak very fluent english so this exacerbated the problem, but I finally get him to understand why I was wondering about Destiny.(
the delivery girl). It wasn't that I didn't like him, but just really enjoyed her.

It turns out that he is Iranian. He is darkly complexioned and he looks VERY middle eastern. His name is Namvar. He said he was pissed at me because he thought I didn't want him as a delivery guy due to his being of middle eastern descent. I said that was ok, if I had not wanted him because he was middle eastern, that would have been insulting, and he would have had every right to be pissed at me....

THAT shut him up!! Once he understood I was ok with him, he calmed down, then he apologized for getting upset. He told me he and his family have only been here in the States a couple of years. I asked him if he liked it here. I was very interested in his reply. Namvar smiled a bit sadly and said that he came here to get away from all the anger and hostility in Iran. So that he and his wife and his 2 girls could live in peace in America. They bought a house and moved into it on Sept 12, the day after the attack. He said that up till then, it was like coming to a new world just like in the fairy tales. You don't know how good it is here he said till you have been someplace like Iran or much worse Iraq.

Everyone was wonderful and accomodating he said, and they had seen almost no trouble or problems with people the whole first year they were here, living in an apartment in NE Mpls. Since 9/11 and after moving to the house though, he said it has been terrible. His girls get harassed at school and in the neighborhood. His wife gets yelled at in the supermarket and doing errands. Namvar said that last week someone spit at him when he was delivering a pizza. I asked him if he having trouble getting a job, if that was why he was delivering pizza's.......No ...I have a job as a computer programmer in Saint Louis Park....

He went on. In Iran we had a nice house, money, cars and I had a good job. But we ended up having to leave a lot of it behind when we came here. It was ok though, we wanted to come live here in the USA where it is free and my girls will be free. I am delivering pizza so my daughters can go to the University of Minnesota when they are old enough. He pointed out to the car in the drivway with the stupid Pizza Hut thing on it's roof, and I looked out and saw 2 girls maybe 8 and 10 sitting in the front seat looking out at us..He waved at them and they shyly waved back. I did the only thing I could think to do, I gave him a $20 dollar tip. I said, here is $10 for each daughter's fund. I really admire what you are doing and I am sorry people are treating you badly. It really think it will get better soon At least I hope so.

Then he said, even though it is bad, this is 100 times better than everyday in Iran. My family has patience and we believe things will return to the way things have always been in America. The one place you can really be free.

Namvar thanked me profusely for the tip and then walked back to his car.........

I marveled at this guy's spirit, and the enthusiasm and guts it took for the whole family to pick up their life stakes and move here.

As I waved goodby to the girls, I thought, try not to judge us too harshly right now. I don't think America is at her best these days....Then I thought...Yeah, but if we keep letting the likes of you and your family into this country, we will be again....soon...

I'd like to quote the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. It is a saying that I have kept taped to my desk for 20 years. I find it incredibly inspirational

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.

This is something we should all read once in a while. Then we should remember just who makes up the population of this country, and where WE all came from.
And just how WELL we have done...all us wretched refuse.......

I always get chills when I reread this. It reminds me that there are things that we should always stand for....we of the golden door.

Posted by Jack at March 16, 2003 05:56 AM