Mother of Exiles

It’s Wednesday and I haven’t spent more than one waking minute not thinking about what is happening with innocent children and their parents on the US-Mexico border…

It’s hard to remain hopeful when hate and fear and divisiveness is the order of the land. When our president purposely muddies the water with lies so his gas-lit supporters will blame his despicable acts on his opposition rather than who is truly responsible. It’s exhausting… and it’s exactly what he wants.

My beautiful friend Kait made this astute observation in a message to me yesterday:

I just can’t keep up with the atrocities — it’s like we’re already freefalling off a cliff, and I keep getting shocked by each branch we hit on the way down. I’m terrified being kept guessing what happens when we hit the ground.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

. . . . . . .

I’m donating what I can to help; I hope you will too.

And please: if you are against these atrocities, don’t be fooled by Trump’s signing of an executive order “ending family separations at the border.” The fine print reveals a darker truth, one where he continues to use innocent children as political bargaining chips.

If you are not against what is happening at the border, or you’re feeling indifferent to it, oh goodness. Put simply: it’s no one’s job to convince you that you should care about other human beings. If a single sentence has escaped your lips or been typed by your fingers excusing the actions of border patrol or the Trump Administration or blaming the Democrats (who are the ones fighting this, btw) — well, poor soul, there is not much more to say.

. . . . . . .

I want to remember that while this treatment of our fellow man on US soil is hardly unprecedented (nay, our country was built on it), it’s still not what we stand for as a nation of immigrants and dreamers.

I remain optimistic about the spirit of my country, even if reality rails against it.

Take heed, for from her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome.

Be kind, be bold, be brave as we fight for those parents whose children (their hearts) are lost, whose homes are gone, whose trauma will last the whole of their lives.

(Photo of Ebey’s Landing, Whidbey Island, June 2018; poem by Emma Lazarus)