I Tried Not To Do This

thefootballexaminer.com

I spent all afternoon and all evening and a good part of the night thinking about this image.

Ben's Bells is one of my favorite places in Tucson.  It's all about kindness.  Most of the cars driven by Tucsonans have one of these stickers on a rear window:

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Kindness.  The notion has been rattling around this country as our President rips children from their parents and blames everyone but himself.  It's just not kind.  You know, that whole Do Unto Others business that the Bible, Mike Pence's bedtime reading material, talks about.  The What You Do To The Least of Us You Do To ME.

That ME..... am I incorrect to assume that refers to the Son of God?  Even Herod's minions didn't pull  him out of the manger and relocate him while his parents checked in with the government.

I know. I know.  They weren't checking in.  They were trying to move in.  They ran from chaos and instability to El Norte, where there are rules.  Yes, rules that they were trying to follow, except that the rules changed while they were en route and they must have missed the memo.

Yeah, the memo.  The one the Border Patrol got telling them to direct migrants to sections fo the border where they would be arrested and prosecuted as felons, rather than given a misdemeanor ticket and a request for appearance in the future.

And then?  Then those grownups would leave their little ones with relatives while they cleaned houses and bussed tables and dug trenches for irrigation lines in 117 degree heat.  How many chef's have chimed in, how many landscapers are reminding us that native born Americans don't want those jobs?  There are no government benefit checks coming their way; they live in the shadows, driving carefully, obeying the rules (ah, those rules), waiting for their day in court.

These aren't people who are crossing illegally.  They are people asking for asylum.  They are looking for shelter and safety.  Many, like the tearful 6 year old we heard on the smuggled tape, want to reunite with family, just like my grandparents some 100 years ago.

Can we take everyone?  Why not?  There are swaths of empty land in our country, miles of distressed housing in Detroit that could be turned into an urban oasis if refugees were trained and put to work creating their own homes.  I bet Habitat for Humanity has a few ideas on how to engage them.  There are signs outside every care home in Tucson, every construction project, looking for workers.  Anybody who's walked hundreds or thousands of miles seeking refuge from kidnapping and rape and murder, who's carried a child looking for a better life over all those miles, certainly that person has proven to have perseverance and fortitude and desire.  Aren't those the basic qualities sought in an entry level position?  

Sure, we'll have to educate those children, but if their parents are allowed to pay taxes on the work they do then it ought to be a wash.  But they can't pay taxes if they sneak across, and those separated families were not trying to sneak.  They were trying to be saved.

Yes, unrest in their countries of origin is the bigger problem. Perhaps Mexico should secure its own borders so migrants cannot pass through, as DJT bloviated yesterday.  But I like thinking of the United States as a sanctuary, as a loving, welcoming, accepting, thoughtful, kind place.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one........

In any event, no matter if you agree with me or not about all of this, can you think of a better way to radicalize a 13 or 14 or 15 year old than caging him?  There is only one thing that might push that kid over the edge faster, and that's seeing FLOTUS announcing to the public how she really feels.

Seeing her sitting in front of a Kindness Matters sign made it all just a little bit worse for me.