Daniel Barnes Dr. Tammy Robinson English 101 10/16/08 Reflections on Human Experiences The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the freedom of the people to express themselves as they feel necessary. Because of this freedom many great writings have been published. Below are three reflections – all on different subjects – that allow us to experience a part of life that we may never get to experience otherwise. In her editorial to The New York Times (1996), Bharati Mukherjee exposes us to the struggles immigrants have, and compares the differing opinions her sister Mira and herself have about being an American citizen. Both came to this country from India 35 years ago intending to stay only two years in order to finish school. Both sisters got married while in school and decided to stay in America. Mukherjee goes on to explain that her sister feels that living as an “expatriate Indian” keeps her from “erasing her Indianness.” While Mukherjee on the other hand embraces her new home saying, “America spoke to me.” Beyond the personal decisions that were made by these two sisters is the bigger issue of immigration as a whole. People have very strong feelings about this, and I am no different. The opponents to immigration say the constant influx of people from other countries is ruining the economy, bringing crime into cities, and diluting the American “culture.” On the other hand, the proponents feel that our country needs immigrants not only to fill the jobs that most Americans refuse to do, but also to bring different culture into our neighborhoods, our cities, and our government. The only way this issue will ever be solved is through open, fearless dialog. Bharati opens this dialog in a very unthreatening way. She takes the bigger issue and shrinks it to a size that readers can wrap their minds around. The war in Iraq is one of the most shameful chapters in American history. It is bankrupting our country, eroding our image around the...