I have a friend who was born in New York City on the 4th
of July. His parents were foreign nationals who were visiting at the time his
mother went into labor. He spent the next thirty years living in his parents’
country. When his company wanted to send him to America to work in one of their
offices he applied and was granted a US passport. He was able to come
here, work, travel, and live as a US citizen. He knew next to no English.
I have another friend who was born in Havana, Cuba. At the
age of twenty-two he wanted a life he couldn’t have in Cuba. He constructed a
makeshift raft out of trash and set out upon the sea. He was one of the lucky
ones and made it across ninety miles of ocean to the Florida coast. Once feet
dry he was welcomed to the United States, given a green card, and eventual
citizenship. He lives in a Cuban part of Miami. Spanish is still his primary language.
I have a third friend who was born in Puebla, Mexico. At the
age of two his parents also wanted a better life for themselves and their son
so they migrated north. With the help of a coyote, a person who specializes in smuggling
people from Mexico to the United States, they came to this country. His parents
spent the next twenty years doing demeaning labor for next to nothing while
giving their son a life he could not possibly had in their home country. My
friend’s first language is English. He has a good job and pays taxes. He has
never asked for anything from anybody. He has married and is raising two
children who are in the top of their class. America is the only country he
knows and the country he would die for if asked to.
Of my three friends, which do you think is the most
American? One was born here but never lived here. One came here as an adult and
was granted citizenship because he was from a “special” nation. The last was
brought here illegally when he was too young to know better but has become an
American in every aspect of his life except for having that one paper.
I have been fortunate enough to have spent a part of my life
in and around some of the undocumented people in my area. My step-father was
here illegally. I never met a single person with malice in their heart or one
who was trying to steal your way of life away from you. All they wanted was a
chance to share in the richness you have been afforded by being born on this
side of an imaginary line. They were some of the hardest working, loving,
generous people I know. I cannot say the same for some who have passed down
generational welfare as a way of life.
I have seen the tragedy when a provider doesn’t return home
one night because they had been detained and sent back to a country they do not
know simply because they do not have the correct piece of paper. We are the
United States of America and God has blessed us abundantly. We were not given
these blessings just to horde them away and keep them for ourselves. If we don’t
learn to properly use what we have been given it will be taken away and given
to someone else. We can do better. It all starts by being able to see the
person instead of hating a faceless group we do not know.
I have a question for all those who wish to see the
dreamers, Americans in every sense of the word, rounded up and exiled to a
country they have never known. How have you been personally affected by any
undocumented person trying for a better life? How has their pursuit of
happiness diminished yours?
Imagine where this world would be today if when Joseph and
Mary, carrying the baby Jesus, ran into a wall keeping them out of Egypt. Egypt
has every right to protect their sovereign borders from people fleeing from
their native home.
“What you have done for the least of these you have done for
me.”
Few Christians would say that they wouldn’t have accepted
Joseph, Mary, and Jesus with open arms, especially knowing today who they are.
How many Christians are willing to accept Jose and Maria fleeing from Mexico
today?
“What you have done for the least of these you have done for
me.” We were not there to give aid and comfort to Joseph and Mary. We are here
today. Let us provide aid and comfort to those who need it now.
