Hello,
I don't really know who you
are, although, I have heard the stories and stereotypes. I am sure I
have passed by you on the street and in the store, but I do not really know who
you are.
Everyone around me is
drawing lines in the sand saying you are a problem that needs to be
solved. Problems can be dissected, broken down, solved, compromised and
walked away from. However, I see you as a person, who is complicated and
delicate, not easily discarded. That makes my thoughts and feelings all
the more confusing. I have lived in a country as a foreign resident with
a green card appreciating the tight controls in place at borders. But, I
wonder if all countries are the same. My heart wants to offer a cup of
cold water, but my head asks if you come just to take advantage or fleeing
the law and if I will get hurt opening my hand to stranger. However, if I
am following the example Jesus set before me; do I even get to ask
those questions? If I look at the hands He offered, I will see the scars
of offering.
I wish there was a way to
sit down and talk to you. In all the discussion about this issue of
immigration, there does not seem to be many people talking to you. I do
not know that any of us truly understand why you come or if we ever really
will. We have theories and probably uneducated guesses, but I do not know
that anyone has actually stopped to ask you why you come. We have
seen hard times, here in the US, but I doubt that many have experienced desperate
poverty. What does make you so desperate to leave your country that you
would risk your life to come here? Do the rumors and movies make life
look so fantastic here that you just have to see for yourself? Is it the
poverty and watching your oldest child give up his dinner, so that his younger
siblings can eat? Is it the drug gang violence that threatens to swallow
up any possibility of a better life for your children? Was it even
your choice to come? Or were you taken from your home and family as a victim of
the sex trade, and then dumped on the streets in a foreign land because of
disease or pregnancy?
I want to understand.
I want to listen. I want to know you, instead of just throwing up walls
and fences to insulate myself from real people. I know many will consider
me liberal or just plain crazy for saying all of this. I also know that I
cannot solve the problems of your country that may bring you here. But I do know that I never want to stop
seeing the value of a human life no matter how that life was brought to my
doorstep.
Sincerely,
Your neighbor
4 comments:
Excellent post. It's so easy to loose sight our Christian love and call to care for people amidst politics and the like.
Great post. Nice how you got it off to a challenging start from the beginning - "do I even get to ask those questions? When I look at the hands He offered I see the scars of offering."
Beth & Jen, thanks for reading. Yes, I have a friend who says: As a follower of Jesus Christ, whether I see someone as a neighbor or an enemy, He has clearly taught how I am supposed to treat them.
Deeply thoughtful and thought-provoking--an excellent re-focusing away from the usual political hype on this issue to the key teachings of Jesus. This is yet another of the many reasons I love you :)
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