We are days from what is predicted to be an even closer presidential election, which feels frightening to even acknowledge.
The conversation of immigration and border security is one of the hot-button issues, with angry rhetoric continually used to describe human beings. There have been wild accusations thrown at a Haitian community in Ohio which was closely followed by a wild narrative that there is no FEMA money because it is spent on illegal immigrants.
While people can have varying feelings and ideas on the border security of our country and immigration, the most important thing is to remember how we speak about other human beings - people like you and I.
People, who are not rapists and murderers, but very often fleeing political violence in their country. Seeking a better opportunity for their child or other family members. Desperate people, who might do anything to find a better path forward for a better life - even if that might mean (in some situations) to illegally enter our borders.
Perhaps this is a simplistic mindset to have when it comes to the many real complexities of immigration and border security, but it is one I continually return to in conversations in my own life that I have with friends and family members who have very different opinions on immigration than I do - what would you do if you were that in person’s shoes?
What would you do if you were a single mom who was so desperate to give her child a safer, better life - away from violence, unrest, and fear? What would you do if the only way for a way out, any chance for the hope of a better life was to flee everything you knew - even if it meant crossing a border illegally?
Put yourself in that mom’s shoes. Or dad or any immigrant.
What does that look and feel like? What emotions well up in your heart? What anxieties arise in your heart? Imagine what life would look like if you didn’t leave.
There are many necessary questions to ask and problems to fix with our broken immigration system. And yet, I do believe so much humanity can return to this conversation if we begin to put ourselves in the shoes of people who find themselves in these painful realities.
As each of us approach the ballot box to vote, I have no doubt you have already made your decision. I know I have. However you choose to use your vote, consider these questions as a reflective practice in regards to immigration and which ticket you vote for.
Jesus Christ was born into a time of political violence and persecution. His parents were refugees in a foreign land with an unfamiliar culture and way of life. The holy family made their way through this world as poor refugees, seeking security, safety, and freedom.
To forget or separate ourselves from this reality is a disrespect to the humanity of Jesus, who all shares the very same humanity of women, men, and children who enter our borders - whether legal or not.
All of God’s children matter. All of them.
Only when we truly put ourselves in the shoes of someone who has a very different experience from our own can we truly scratch the surface of empathy and compassion.
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