Strangers at Our Door

Policy Misses the Point

Politicians in this country like to blame each other for the increase in the movement of people in the world. Worldwide, migration and immigration continue to rise. Instead of looking for the root causes for immigration, the policies proposed are all about keeping people out, fueled by a heightened fear of people of color.

Donald Trump and his imitators are stoking the flames of hatred and fear with incendiary language. They call those wanting to come here; Invasion. Aliens. Killers. Criminals.

Our solutions are draconian. We put them in camps. We send them back to Mexico where gangs prey on them. We build walls. We tell them they are not welcome. The worst of it is targeting children by separating families. The new plan is to expel children of immigrants born here. 

I think that's unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, based on jus soli. But Trump bought three justices to go with three other conservatives. Nothing in the constitution or settled law through precedent is safe anymore.

Why Migrate Here?

According to the UN, Some people move in search of work or economic opportunities, to join family, or to study. Others move to escape conflict, persecution, terrorism, or human rights violations. Still others move in response to the adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters, or other environmental factors.
https://www.un.org › global-issues

The root causes of immigration have not changed, and the policies we employ do not address these issues. The solutions we employ are all about punishment based on demonizing  people in search of a better life. 

The demonization of "The Other" is something we have struggled with since our colonial days. It was also baked into our constitution. The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached among state delegates during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It determined that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation. Something learned from the compromise is that the Constitution could be changed for the better. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the compromise. Is that safe anymore?

For one nation under God, immigration should be a moral issue. Foreigners or refugees are not to be oppressed.

Israelites were to call on their empathy for refugees because they had been treated cruelly as refugees when they were made into slaves in Egypt. They were instructed not to cheat foreigners or take advantage of them in any way. Most Christians know Jesus’ instruction to “love your neighbor as yourself” but may not be aware that Mosaic Law has the same instruction for how to treat foreigners. The command to treat them as “native-born” would have been shocking to people in Moses’ day. World Vision 

And what did Jesus think about all this? I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Matthew 25:35

The question becomes, do policies of oppression and denial make us a nation of hypocrites? 

What I've written seems a little dark. Let me offer the following as an offering of hope. The City of Immigrants by Steve Earle. 

(Photo by Katie Moum)

Is Ignorance Bliss?

Decidedly Not

Ignorance is the lack of information, knowledge, understanding or education. Too often, arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand. Arrogance can lead a person to ignore something important, and ignorance of other's abilities and talents can also make a person arrogant.

(Mar 24, 2021 the daily coach)

Surya Prakash Mohapatra gives more insight:
Suppose you have gone to a new city for the first time. In one evening, you are walking on a suburb street. The street lights are on and you are enjoying the walk. All of a sudden the lights go off and there is complete darkness. How do you feel? Well, you feel scared, stressed and anxious, don't you? But why is it so? The cause of your fear is your ignorance about the place and situation.

The example about ignorance is simple yet profound. Sree Sree Thakur Anukulchandra says, "Ignorance creates anxiety for man, and wisdom gives man peace. Ignorance is the cause of grief, and knowledge is bliss."

The primary cause of Ignorance is 'ego'. People with obsessed ego are self-centered. They believe that the world revolves around them and they are at the center of everything. They believe that they deserve all the attention, adulation and respect from everyone else. 

How to Deal with Ignorance

There's an entire political constituency that deals in ignorance. The leaders of this movement are enriching themselves at the expense of those who follow them. The odd part is, they make money by offering products, mostly supplements. 

There's really no way to avoid them. So how can I deal with them? Since I can only have a direct influence on myself, I found these tips by Weylie Li helpful.

• Feed Your Mind with Digestible Information
• Ask Yourself Honest, Yet Sometimes Uncomfortable Questions
• Become Super-Forecasters by Collaborating With Others
• Constantly Look for Alternative Opinions
• Curb the Impulsion to Assign Judgments to Events

How do you deal with ignorant people?

Think Aloud offers 10 simple ways to deal with ignorant people.

1. Self Control
2. Don't expect too much from an ignorant person
3. Ask a friend for advice
4. Try to be kind
5. Ignore them
6. Try to have an honest conversation
7. Be emphatic
8. Entertain your mind
9. Wait for them to make a mistake
10. The best defense is a good offense.

Best Ignorance Quotes

1. “Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.” – Confucius

2. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

3. “The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.” – Herodotus

4. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” – Wayne Dyer

5. “Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.” – Alfred North Whitehead

6. “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.” – Harlan Ellison

7. “Truth is, by nature, self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.” – Mahatma Gandhi

8. “Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all; too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill bringing-up, are far more fatal.” – Plato

9. “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Daniel J. Boorstin

10. “Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is poverty. Ignorance is devastation. Ignorance is tragedy. It all stems from ignorance.” – Jim Rohn

The Shape of Things to Come

 

Climate Change is No Hoax

For those of us who are in denial about how climate shapes our lives, Reuters is reporting how climate events on the other side of the world could cause food prices to skyrocket. 

This is merely a foretaste of what climate change will bring us. You may believe that global warming is a hoax. You may end up eating those words.

• Wheat worries: China's growers are facing “disaster” after heavy rains, Ukraine might lose 20% of its winter-grain yield because of poor weather, and Australia's wheat and barley output might fall by a third next year because of el Niño.
• Even less-tasty news: A slump in global cashew demand has pushed Ivory Coast's industry to the verge of collapse, and heavy rain in the west-African nation is raising fears of disease in its cocoa crop.

These events, by themselves, are not proof of climate change and global warming. The severity and increasing frequency of these events are. The orange skies and unbreathable air in the eastern part of the United States are the result of a very dry winter in Canada. The National Geographic warns the orange skies are the future. We better get used to it.

We tried to control the world around us pulling ancient matter from the ground and burning it, eradicating entire chunks of ecosystems, without bothering to think about long-term ramifications … We forgot that we can’t just take without consequences; we forgot that we’re inextricably part of a larger system.

- Elizabeth Weinberg, Unsettling Extinction Together (2022)

There's a line from a 60's tune, Shapes of Things, used as inspiration for the title of this article, "Will time make men more wise?" 

The lyrics in the second verse ask, 

Now the trees are almost green
But will they still be seen?
When time and tide have been
Fall into your passing hands
Please don't destroy these lands
Don't make them desert sands

It seems greed and self interest got in the way.

Things That Work / Moving Forward

 

Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.

- Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate (2007)

None of us can change the past, but when time is right, we all need to be ready to move on. Or, as one friend often said, "Thus encouraged, we press on."

We all make mistakes. We say and do things we live to regret. 

And yet, there is grace and forgiveness. We can all begin again.

Where There Is Love | Playing For Change (HD)

When I worked at WUWM, I would have put this in the jazz rotation. The sound of surprise and exciting discoveries took us beyond strict definitions. Believe it or not, these decisions were incredibly controversial. The audience didn't complain so much. It was the volunteer staff of jazz announcers. Their rancor made me feel like I had arrived. They were constantly sniping at each other, claiming only they knew the true jazz. How arrogant.

Regret? Making choices can do that.

The exquisite pain of being alive has something to do ... with how impossible it should be to have these moments of beauty—this sea breeze, that inquisitive finch, this small foot in a bunk bed, that laughter after a fall—but perhaps even more to do with how many choices we slowly realize we can never relive, never re-choose. 

- Elizabeth Cantwell, “Maybe So, Sir but Not Today: The Fragile Humanity of Top Gun: Maverick”

Things That Work / All who are hungry come and eat!

Generosity starts when you open the door.

There’s a dramatic moment in the Passover seder, in which we open the door and declare, “let all who are hungry come and eat!” ... Whatever your religion, I pray that the Jewish model inspires you. 

- Michael Rothbaum

What would happen if we took our generosity beyond ritual and made it our way of life? What if our political will was focused on systemic change to create a fair and just society?

There are solid reasons behind systemic change that benefit all of us.

According to the World Bank, Social protection systems help individuals and families, especially the poor and vulnerable, cope with crises and shocks, find jobs, improve productivity, invest in the health and education of their children, and protect the aging population.

You might not know it from our politics, but the United States is the third most generous country in the world, behind Indonesia and Kenya. That's according to the Charities Aid Foundation. Their report provides insight into the scope and nature of giving around the world by examining three aspects of giving behavior. The questions at the heart of the report are: Have you done any of the following in the past month? 

• Helped a stranger, or someone you didn’t know who needed help? 

• Donated money to a charity?  

• Volunteered your time to an organization?

Our politics set tribes against each other. We have politics driven by scarcity, fear, hate, sexism, xenophobia, grievances, homophobia, nationalism, and white supremacy. Politicians are adept at personal attack and character assassination. But what would happen if we discussed differences based on policies instead of personal attack?

To have generosity of spirit is to act with kindness, to be open and willing to share with others without any expectation of receiving something back in return. It means to celebrate the success and efforts of others without envy or resentment. -Wellington College Apr 27, 2020

Systemic racism and discrimination against the poor are the antitheses of the generosity of the spirit. More about this is made clear in the book of Proverbs.

One person gives freely, yet gains even more;

    another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.

A generous person will prosper;

    whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

—Proverbs 11:24–25

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,

    and he will reward them for what they have done.

—Proverbs 19:17

 

Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor

    will also cry out and not be answered.

—Proverbs 21:13

The righteous care about justice for the poor,

    but the wicked have no such concern.

—Proverbs 29:7

A system that is based on respect for the other, is based on listening first, based on empathy instead of sympathy, based on action over words, based on helping over taking charge.

Hate the system that made your brother evil. It is the system we must destroy.
- Clark V. Poling