America: I want to tell you a story about hope.
America: I want to tell you a little story that I hope will restore your faith in your country and it's people - and why I still believe in what you may have forgotten. That you as a country and as her citizens represent hope!!
When I was about 12 years old in the small city of London, Ontario Canada the local river (The Thames River,) had over swollen it's banks and caused many to be concerned for the safety of their property and persons. At about 6 am in the morning I was awoken by someone pounding frantically on the front door of our home.
When my father answered the door there were two men who were desperately pleading for my father to help, help them rescue two trapped loved one's of theirs who were trapped in the branches of a tree in the middle of the river that had overflowed. The man and his son in the tree were clinging on for their very lives.
Because our family had a swimming pool, it was hoped that my father could lend these men some life-saving equipment that could help save the lives of their loved ones stuck in the tree. As my father and I grabbed all the life-saving equipment that we could hold rushed down to the banks of the overflowing river to see if we could help save these two men trapped in the tree - unfortunately our equipment and efforts just could not help these trapped men.
As I looked on desperation as local firemen, and policemen and others tried everything to help these two trapped men, to no avail - out of now where in the early morning darkness came first the loud sound of something from the sky above, then suddenly came the shine of bright light.
That bright light was coming from a United States Coast Guard Helicopter that had flown over 110 miles from the Detroit area to help rescue and save the lives of two trapped men. I watched as the coast guard men shinned their bright light down on these two trapped men and it was at that moment that I saw the faces of so many turn from desperation to hope.
The faces of the friends and family of the trapped men, the faces of the firemen, policemen, mine and my father's as well turned from feeling helplessness to jubilation, cheers & applauds from the more than two dozen people who had tried and failed in our attempts to rescue these men, as we watched the United States Coast Guard lower one of their own and a rescue basket to the two trapped men, who had been hanging on to the branches of a tree for hours, as the waters of death swirled beneath them - for the first time in my young life I had witnessed the true meaning of the word hope in action.
Fast forward to the year 2017 I was homeless on the streets of Vancouver, Canada (as the result of experiencing more than one heart attack, minor surgery that cost me my home, my continued education.) I was experiencing what I thought was another heart attack (after all I knew from my first heart attack and minor surgery that it had been discovered I had four blocked arteries,) I was transported to the local emergency department at VGH (Vancouver General Hospital,) where I was was told by the ER doctor who just ran the minium of tests that there was nothing wrong with my heart (they didn't even run a blood test to check the enzyme levels in my blood.)
I knew, I just knew, call it my gut, or intuition that there was something wrong more than what I was being told. So I made the decision to try and sneak across the Canada/US border to get the medical help I needed. I had to try and sneak across the border because I didn't have a passport. My plan was once across the border to make my way to a local hospital to get the medical help I needed. Unfortunately (I'll call it luck,) I got caught by two US border patrol agents just inside the US border by Blain, Washington. I was detained and transported to a US Customs and Immigration Detention Facility in Tacoma, Washington.
I was not even in the facility for more than four hours and I started experiencing chest pains. The medical team rushed me into their medical unit at the detention center and ran a battery of tests. The chief medical officer made the decision I needed to be transported to an outside hospital for emergency care. I was transported by ambulance to St. Joesph's Hosptial where the medical team including cardiologists determined I needed to have another AG Angi- Oplasy procedure done. During this more than 3 hour procedure, it was discovered that I had another artery that was more than 80% blocked and required two stents to be inserted to unblock it. The cardiologist told me afterward it was a good thing I trusted my gut instinct and tried to sneak across the border because I could have had another heart attack and it could have been fatal.
I spent 67 days at this immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington - the majority of that time, was in outside hospitals getting the medical I needed. It is an experience I will never forget, because even though I was being held in the same facility as dangerous persons, who had committed acts such as murder and were waiting to be deported to their home countries, the medical personal whom many I got to know on a more personal and deeper level of experience and respect - told me I may not know you, I may not know the crimes you have committed, I know one thing is certain you are a person, a human being and your life matters to me.
That is the second time in my life, that I witnessed the meaning of the word Hope In Action. The first was when I was about 12 and witnessed the US Coast Guard Saving Lives, the second was when US Government Medical Personal Saved My Own Life.
Now you know the rest of the story about why I still see hope in you as American citizens and your country - and the same is true for millions of others around the world. We know you're not a perfect union, and we know you still have a lot of issues and problems America, your no different than us in that regard. But We Also Know You're The Shinningest Example Of Hope Out There In The World Today.
That hope lies in all of you, whether you are a Democratic, Republican or Independent.
