The immigration debate continues to rage across the nation – apparently everywhere but Congress, which failing to resolve their differences, points fingers and moves on.

I really don’t get it. Raised by a history teaching dad, I understood who built the foundation of this nation we call home. I know on whose shoulders the skyscrapers were raised and by whose blood our freedoms won. The farmers, the factory workers, the scientists, the peacekeepers, the doctors, the waiters, the financiers and the gardeners all came here. Wave after wave, they settled this land and soon called it home.

Sure there were struggles. There were language and cultural differences. There were ethnic and national pride conflicts. But in the end, the melting pot or the multi colored quilt stood as an example of national pride.

We were stronger when we stood together. We were better off. We were America.

I received the following email the other day from someone I knew as a Democratic activist. Her party was built in this city by waves of post-turn-of-the-century immigrants who contributed to our nation, our city and certainly to our borough — the most culturally diverse place on earth.

And so, I take this opportunity to share the difference of how two from Queens view their gardens.



To: Michael Schenkler

Subject: A Sad Parallel...

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere.

Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn’t even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing five families; you have to wait six hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; you child’s second grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn’t speak English; Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press “one” to hear my bank talk to me in English; and people waving flags other than “Old Glory” are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Maybe it’s time for the government to take down the bird feeder.



From: Michael Schenkler

Subject: A Sad Parallel...

Funny, the bird feeders in my backyard have attracted a wide variety of beautiful birds that make beautiful music. They bring cheer to my yard, they eat some harmful insects, saving the garden for the plants and people, some pollinate plants, others bring seeds from neighboring yards to grow new plants. The birds don’t have papers and don’t speak my language, but I’ve never had a single nest interfere with my lifestyle. They coexist beautifully with me and my family and bring us joy. If you spend your life looking down, you’ll see the bird poop; if you look up, you’ll see the beauty.

Free food, subsidized housing, medical care and education should be universal. I think our founding fathers knew that. Certainly my grandparents benefited from a helping hand when they came here from Eastern Europe. When my in-laws made their new home here after knowing the concentration camps, our nation welcomed them, too.

As a matter of fact, these immigrants have built our nation and our future depends on our ability to exist in a community of nations that are catching up and perhaps passing us by. I’d suggest that the “illegals,” as you call them, contribute to our economy and are not a burden. Please research their net effect on the economy before condemning their presence on that basis.

My kids haven’t suffered in school — they have however been exposed to cultures I never encountered as a child — and are worldlier and better off for it. Overcrowding you speak of has not impacted my life. It’s not the “illegals“ parking their beemers in front of my house.

Thank god for the immigrants in the Emergency Rooms; they are the ones that usually treat us. As you look at our local hospitals, be grateful for the care that the medical professionals who were born elsewhere provide to us all.

The streets in my neighborhood are quiet — sometimes too quiet. That’s when I have the ability to seek out the music and culture and food of all the diverse neighborhoods of our great city. The aromas, the hustle and bustle, the music — you have to know where to go, it doesn’t come marching on to your block.

Yeah, I don’t like pressing 1 or any buttons a machine tells me to push. I react to the fact that my bank has me talk to a machine. I’d much prefer a person with the skills on the other end of the phone — no matter where they were born.

The bi-lingual Corn Flakes taste just as good. I wonder where the bitterness is coming from?

You know what? I’ll bet you really don’t have any bird feeders in your backyard. Because if you got to know the birds, you’d be singing a different song.

Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.