'Oprah Magazine'

August 2006

“Elizabeth Perkins's Aha! Moment: One Girl Had All The Opportunity In the World. The Other Didn't. For The Actress, It Was A Call To Freedom-And Fairness For All.”

*Transcribed By This Website

I WAS HELPING MY FRIEND PLANT HERBS IN HER BACK-yard garden one perfect, smog-free Los Angeles Wednesday, and I had just patted down the soil around a bunch of basil when I heard the sound of a lawn mower. At the far end of the property, I saw a very small person pushing a very large machine.

I said to my friend, "Is that a child?"

Whoever it was continued to mow the lawn, moving closer to us, and we confirmed that it was indeed a young girl. Clear, open face, deep-set eyes, long chestnut hair in two neat braids. My friend's new gardener told us the girl was his 14-year-old daughter, Alicia. She was born in Mexico and spoke little English.

"Why isn't she in school?" we asked.

"She has to work," he said. "To support the family." Then he patiently explained his predicament: Of course he would love for Alicia to spend her days in school, but money was scarce and sometimes everyone had to work so that they could all survive.

For a while, I stood on the lawn, watching Alicia. She was carrying bags of mulch and digging holes with heavy shovels. Eventually, she took a break and sat on the grass to eat a sandwich she'd brought. I thought of my daughter, the same age, dressed in her brand-name jeans, leaving science class, laughing with her friends. Although this wasn't news--that there are children in this country who cannot get the education that is their only hope of improving their state, while others have every advantage imaginable--the stark contrast, the terrific unfairness of it, took my breath away.

When my daughter got back from school, she started to complain about her homework.

"Come with me," I said, and we went down the street to meet Alicia. I told my daughter that Alicia had been working in the garden with her father most of the day.

"Why aren't you in school?" my daughter asked her.

"Because this is what I do," Alicia said. My daughter nodded slowly.

As I went inside to say hello to my friend, I noticed my daughter follow Alicia to the front of the house. And then they began to move plants together. I couldn't hear their voices, but I could see them talking as they worked, fumbling for words and giggling. For a second, through that window, they looked like a couple of best friends doing chores outside, having fun on a lovely California afternoon--not strangers from vastly different backgrounds trying to comprehend each other's situation. It was an ordinary scene, but I wondered why it was only a "scene." Why couldn't it simply be ordinary? Why should two 14-year-old girls have such disparate hopes for a future?

I realized that afternoon that while it's important to be thankful for how fortunate I've been, it's even more pressing that I take things in with a broader perspective. As a person, as a citizen, it's my duty to ensure that Alicia enjoy the same rights as my daughter; she mustn't be denied the chance to pursue her dreams. It falls to me as the granddaughter of Greek immigrants to call my political representatives, to rally in support of immigrants' rights when I can. It's my responsibility to extend the wealth of opportunity I've been given by this country to those just beginning their fight here.

Right now America is grappling with its "immigrant problem." I struggled with it, too. But I know where I stand. This country's history is bound up with migrants and refugees who fought through prejudice and carved out their version of the American dream. Now is no different. And where better to learn that lesson than in my own backyard?

Elizabeth Perkins plays sardonic mom Celia Hodes in the Golden Globe-winning Showtime series Weeds, which returns for its second season on August 14 at 10 P.M.

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