I live on a small cul-de-sac

in Peachtree City (a total of six homes), where there are 10 children

in all, ranging from preschool to college aged. My street sounds very

similar to that writer's. We always have children riding bikes and playing

soccer in the street and there's always extra cars and loud music from

the teens. Personally I love it. It shows happy, healthy activity between

neighbors.

What I believe that writer

has forgotten is, unless we are born of American Indian heritage, we are

ALL from somewhere else! ALL of our families came here at some time to

create a better life for themselves and their families. Why shouldn't

the Mexican population have that same right?

I feel that sometimes people

that speak in ignorance are simply afraid of the unknown. I wonder if

that writer has ever taken the time to actually speak to any of his Mexican

neighbors, to introduce himself and get to know them as people. On a whole,

the Mexican folks that live in Peachtree City seem to be good-natured,

pleasant, soft-spoken, hard-working, Christian people. Just because their

skin may be a little darker and they speak a different language doesn't

make them bad people, just different, as our own families all were at

one time.

Maybe the writer should learn

some compassion and offer his assistance to help his foreign neighbors

to adjust to a new country and new customs, or maybe volunteer at a local

school to assist in English classes to help them learn the language. Maybe

then he or she would have something intelligent to write about and wouldn't

be afraid to sign his or her name.

Also, in reference to Bill

Gilmer's letter: I'm glad my grandparents' generation didn't have the

same outlook as Mr. Gilmer, a "guest work program" where immigrants

would be allowed to work here, but then take the money