EL SEGUNDO HERALD January 15, 2015 Page 5 One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion The Other Side of the Coin Terrorists Attacks in Paris Should Give us More Resolve to Enjoy Life By Cristian Vasquez Few times in my career as a reporter have I ever felt that my well-being was at risk. That isn’t to say that that I haven’t engaged in activities that weren’t dangerous, but few times did my fear levels rise. When the news of the tragic shooting at the Paris-based satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” made headlines, it was shocking, saddening and caused much reflection. Among the 12 victims murdered were 10 journalists, including the magazine’s editor and two police officers. The attacks were the result of a wellcalculated plan by criminals: well-trained terrorists who were determined to accomplish this massacre carried out these cowardice acts. Despite the fact that these fellow journalists in Paris were killed in cold blood, I can honestly say that I am not afraid of ever losing my life while reporting. Granted I do not know where my career as a reporter will take me, death due to occupational hazard does not cross my mind. However, in this tragic moment for journalists around the world, I can’t help but to also think about the two police officers that were murdered. Much like the officers killed in Brooklyn about a month ago, the two officers who were shot in the Bronx a few weeks later or the LAPD officers who were shot several nights before the New Year, the murdered officers in Paris left home that morning with plans to come home to their families. Despite the daily risks that come with being a police officer, these men and women put on their uniform and go to work everyday just like you and I despite the dangers involved. There are thousands of people around the world who proudly entire By Gerry Chong The line . . . the long line begins here at the figurative entry to America, and extends as far as the horizon and beyond. That line is comprised of people from all over the world, every ethnicity, every religion, every age and sex. They all stand patiently in line hoping for a chance to immigrate and participate in the greatest experiment in human freedom the world has ever known. Their frustration, however, is that the line moves so slowly that many die before their turn for legal immigration comes, and that people who have ignored the law and cut into line are receiving the opportunities and benefits those in line are being denied. With faith that America will ultimately come to its senses and enforce its own laws, they hope their turn will come. But what are those laws intended to do? We are, first, a nation of immigrants, so immigration is welcome. But as an established nation with its own customs and way of life, it needs to control the immigration process to prevent criminal elements and enemies of the state from entering. It needs to admit immigrants who wish to integrate into the mores and culture of this society, and to do so in numbers that do not destroy the foundation on which this nation was founded; because to do otherwise is to destroy the very basis for immigration. The people in line must be astounded to find we do not enforce our laws. Millions of people refuse to wait in line, and simply crash through a weak border in uncontrolled numbers. Few are deported. Many do not integrate into our society, but seek to superimpose on us the language and culture they had supposedly left behind. Newspapers, radio/TV shows, supermarket signs, voice mail systems, and voting ballots all evidence that superimposition. The children of the gatecrashers are rewarded with lower in-state tuition to universities. Crashers are rewarded with driver’s licenses on the assumption they’d drive without a license anyway. Many illegal immigrants do not appear for scheduled immigration hearings and simply disappear into the system. Many receive Food Stamps and other social benefits, including Medicaid, welfare, and Social Security, Some work in the underground economy, paying no income taxes. Our government’s justification for rewarding lawlessness is human compassion, but that reward comes at the expense of the law and at the expense of those waiting in the long line. If and when amnesty is approved and citizenship is granted ahead of those in line, it will be the ultimate betrayal of the rule of law. Today, Americans find ourselves strangers in a strange land as our culture is changed by the sheer volume of uncontrolled immigration. Laws and its operational practices work in opposition to each other. All the while orderly applicants for residency and citizenship must wait in an endless line, their personal stories no more nor less compelling than the law breakers. To those in line, we can only offer our deepest apology. • Friday and Saturday January 16-17 128 Sierra Street, El Segundo 90245 Furniture, Appliances, Designer Clothing, Housewares and More! Biggest Sale of The Year!!! Additional Savings on Everything The semi trucks have arrived! UP TO 90% OFF RETAIL PRICES! HUGE 2 DAY SALE lifetime as law enforcement agents because it is their calling. Writing is my calling but unlike the men and women in uniform, I’m pretty sure that I would not be able to function properly if the daily danger in my profession equaled that of a peace officer. Yet, there have always been men and women willing to overlook these risks and work to make their city a safer place to live. I love reporting as much as I enjoy writing and my writing skills keep me safe, tucked away behind a desk and in front of a computer. Interviews usually take place over coffee or in someone’s office. That is worlds apart from the uncertainty that comes on a daily basis for police officers. So when I hear news of an officer of the law being attacked or murdered in the line of duty, it is heartbreaking. People become police officers because it is a calling; I know that there is no amount of money that would give me the courage to walk a beat or patrol a dangerous part of the city on a daily basis. In the history of the written word thousands, if not millions, of people have been killed for what they have printed. Good or bad words and images have an impact on us all and in some cases, like what happened in Paris this, that impact can be deadly. Investigative reporters, war correspondents, crime beat writers are just some of the assignments that can get a reporter killed. 12 people were murdered because of the hateful and poisoned souls a few cowards armed with guns. So I pray for the victims, the families and every journalist and police officer working a beat; I pray for their safety and that we as a society have the courage to not succumb to terrorist. • TELL YOUR FRIENDS OVER 100,000 ITEMS! EVERYTHING MUST GO!
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