Ropes of Sand

show, not tell

Thanks, Sarah, for posting the book. As a return I will offer an entertaining tale of my recent unhappiness with Homeland Security (I bet this won't be the last time). Today my mother-in-law went to an American consulate to get a visa to visit us here because--we can't possibly go home (due to my unsolved immigration headache) so we thought she might as well come here to meet her grandsons. So: this Chinese lady in her sixties took a night train from the border of China and North Korea to this city, and was then told that she could not get a visa because she did not have a photo that showed she and my husband were indeed mother and son. She showed the officer that she brought all the possible documents, including my husband's birth certificate, but was told that they did not believe the papers because they could be false. They wanted to see a photo.

Now here's the dillema: my husband's family from this small town was not a rich family and for a long time they had to count it their blessing to have enough food for everyone on the dinner table. So they simply did not have the foresight to take any photos. When he went to college, they could have taken photos but I suppose they lacked foresight again. So now we can't provide the only thing that matters to the officer.

And then here are my random thoughts:
the visa officer wanted to be shown, not to be told, about the mother-son relationship;
but why would he trust a photo when it's much easier to fabricate than birth certificate?
photoshop could be a useful program in solving the problem;
should we, as precaution, start taking pictures not only the two sons but also WITH them in case one day homeland security asks for such evidence?
is it my illusion that America is becoming China was as I remembered?

posted by Y @ Wednesday, September 21, 2005