Dromond
Pleasantly abstruse.
Where has the optimism gone? What happened to compassion? Why has fear and hate gained so much ground in our hearts? It isn't just about Syrian refugees, the animus against them is only the most recent symptom of the rot in our collective psyche. It feels like the terrorists have won the battle of hearts and minds. It feels like the doomsayers are being embraced rather than shunned. It's like the collective wants something apocalyptic to happen just to say, "I told you so!"
The drum beat of negativity and hopelessness is constant. Relentless. Yes there are evil people. Yes there are those who want it all to burn. If we turn away the innocent because of the things the guilty do, are we not then guilty ourselves? Have we not become that which we fear and hate?
In regards to the refugee crisis itself; Jesus said whatever we do to the least of our fellows, we do to Him. So, when we say "Not here!" to people fleeing war and persecution, are we not turning Jesus away? Yes, we are. He didn't make exceptions for anyone.
If Christianity is not your bag, and the words of Jesus don't move you, then think about the motto inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. The edifice gifted by France, inscribed with a stirring message.
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
If we close the golden door, we abandon all right to call ourselves the greatest nation on Earth.
The drum beat of negativity and hopelessness is constant. Relentless. Yes there are evil people. Yes there are those who want it all to burn. If we turn away the innocent because of the things the guilty do, are we not then guilty ourselves? Have we not become that which we fear and hate?
In regards to the refugee crisis itself; Jesus said whatever we do to the least of our fellows, we do to Him. So, when we say "Not here!" to people fleeing war and persecution, are we not turning Jesus away? Yes, we are. He didn't make exceptions for anyone.
If Christianity is not your bag, and the words of Jesus don't move you, then think about the motto inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. The edifice gifted by France, inscribed with a stirring message.
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
If we close the golden door, we abandon all right to call ourselves the greatest nation on Earth.
