Welcome to America!

Whether you were born here or have just arrived by legal means, we welcome you. You will find quite a few things available to you to assist you in the transition from your former home. If you were born here, you will find that over the next 18 years you will have every opportunity to succeed, only one requirement needs to be met on your side, take advantage of what is offered.

You will have the best free education system in the world. You will be given the opportunity to use freedom of choice in some states and go to an even better school, a charter school, but only if you want to go there, you will not be forced to succeed. For an additional price, private schools are available. Again, the free system works fine, but it's up to you to make the best of it.

If you are new to our country, now your country, you will have a great many educational opportunities to learn our English language, most of these programs will be offered for free. Of course, again, if you want to make the best of it, feel free to pay a little of your hard earned money and invest in yourself through one of the many community colleges.

As you get to the point that you have some mastery of the language you will see almost immediate results reflected in the jobs that you will become qualified to hold. Unlike some countries, we do not make you do anything, you have the freedom to pursue any job you want, all we ask is that you make the effort to train for them and give it your all.  Your upward mobility is completely up to you.

Now you will meet some Americans along the way who will resent you being here. That's fine, they have rights too, but they can not control your progress, only dampen your spirit. Other will offer to assist you. This can be a trap, so ask a lot of questions before getting to involved. They will say that you can't learn the language, or that you are not capable of learning new skills and you need help from them. They will show you many avenues that you can take to get money on a monthly basis to help you with your needs. This sounds great at first, but it breeds dependency on them. The smart ones will take what they offer for only the shortest amount of time then thank them and move on, all the while working hard to surpass what assistance they are offering. Some will fall into the dependency trap and be lost forever in a cycle of revolving sorrow. These will become DLP converts and it is a messy cult to get out of.

The rest of you will excel and become a huge moving force that will create, employ, invent and add stability to the country and the countries economy. You will hold fast to your ethnic and cultural roots and find that there are many things here that will enlighten you as well. We rejoice at your sense of family and culture and thank you for sharing them with us and encourage you to take in the many cultural ideals we have to offer. Remember, assimilation does not mean you have to leave your persona at the door, just keep in mind that are now in the United States and we are a melting pot of cultures, with no one culture being dominant over another. Some things may offend you, bet remember again that those people have the same rights you do to practice their religions, customs and faiths.

That's one more point to look at, getting offended in America is almost as universal as your right to enjoy your freedom. We do not need to constantly be bringing law suits against those who offend us. If someone makes an off color joke, or a cartoon hits the papers you disagree with, you don't have to burn down the place to show you are unhappy. Simply use your economic liberty and don't use that product anymore, or stop associating with that person. No need to get everybody in an uproar because you got your feelings hurt. Keep in mind, we all get discussed from time to time, it comes with freedom.

Finally, let's talk for one moment about your right to vote. You have it now, use it. I will not tell you how to vote. I would however encourage you to get involved. Look at all sides of the issues. Make a point of learning about the candidates and their beliefs. Don't get trapped by the "party line vote". It's a sham. Vote with conviction, from the heart. Never let any one side of the debate dominate the landscape. If one party is doing what you like, but you don' t like the man or woman, use your power, you are an equal here in America. Run for office yourself and get involved from the ground up.

Bottom line is, you are free to make the best of it here in America. Too many of the locals have forgotten that and it's a shame. I hope you enjoy your new country and know that you will find that in the end it was the best move you could have made.

And I know this will be true because I am an Average American.

P.S. Sometimes you will be called a racist, bigoted, homophobe thug if you don't go along with certain parties and their affiliates, these are the DLP folks I warned you about earlier. Usually you will find that they are really talking about themselves when they sling that at you. They don't believe in you or your ability to do something for yourself, but the rest of us do...Just ignore them, it's what a lot of us do.