The morning-after thoughts

Been feeling a little unsettled today after yesterday's posting - not sure why. Maybe because I had such a strong reaction to Jose Antonio Vargas' story, the human side of it, and for me maybe, the humanistic side of it, without really having a lot of knowledge about some of the things I was talking about - factual knowledge. Has that ever happened to you? I mean, how much do I really know?

What I know - or think I know...

• First, I need to learn more about immigration and immigration policy.
• Immigration - documented or undocumented - is a complicated subject.
• Our nation was built on the backs and with the minds and hearts of immigrants. We often forget that white Europeans who settled the US were originally immigrants.
• Sometimes it feels like the brouhaha about immigration now is related at least in part to the reality that many of the people who want to enter our country and become citizens have dark skin.
• It also feels like the tension is related to fear about the future, about the economy, about what might be ahead. We often react with fear when faced with the unknown.
• Immigrants, of both types, contribute to our economy - as workers, consumers, and often taxpayers.
• Whether or not we want to acknowledge it, our economy depends upon the labor of immigrants, of both types.
• Immigrants of both types also use public services.
• We have policies that are supposed to support and oversee legal immigration.
• These policies are far from perfect, and are cumbersome, costly, and confusing.
• There are passionate arguments on both sides, some carefully researched, some rising from strong feelings ... browse through these three web-sites:
•         Drum Major Institute for Public Policy - Contributions of Immigrants
•         US Illegal Aliens - The Dark Side
•         Pappy's Ponderings - Illegal Immigration

If you have been reading my blog, you might know that I have biases - arising from a combination of my values, ethics, experiences, profession, politics, faith, and education. I have a world-view that some, but certainly not all, share. The lens through which I view the world is that it is a world of abundance, not scarcity. There is more than enough for all, though that might mean that for all to have enough, things might have to level out a bit. I know that others may have had experiences, terrible experiences, that have led them to view life through the lens of scarcity. Yet I have known people who have had terrible experiences, lives of devastating unfairness and fathomless losses, who are still able to view the world as abundant, who are still able to hold out hope and to act with generosity. What allows this to happen? I don't know. Most of the time, I believe that we have a choice about our lens, but I don't really know.

When I think about Jose Antonio Vargas and others like him, I see adults, but I also see the children within the adults - who they used to be - the kids whose parents wanted them to have lives better than theirs. I have children - I get this.

When I read Pappy's Ponderings and the site US Illegal Aliens, tears come to my eyes - I sense so much anger and fear in those words. It makes me sad. I believe that listening to, understanding, getting along with people who are different from us is important. We need to do this for the good of all of us who share this home called earth. 

It is complicated, and I want to learn more.

Faith Hope and Charity by Diana Bryer