shame on us(a) at the southern border

there’s an old saying: a stitch in time saves nine. when we ignore the roots of a problem, it will get worse over time.

i can’t help but think that the axiom applies to the recent news from del rio, texas and the thousands of people– most from haiti– that have overwhelmed that small border town

if this is not a humanitarian crisis, i do not know what is!

currently, there is a massive effort to fly the haitians back to their country. i get it– it is a quick fix to a massive problem.

but most of these haitians had been already been in central and south america for some time now. most were displaced after the catastrophic 2010 earthquake and death-dealing aftermath in haiti. now, they have migrated to the usa border and crossed the shallow rio grande river into the land of the free and home of the brave.

my last post ( https://frarthurcmf.wordpress.com/2021/09/17/the-continued-crosses-of-our-haitian-brothers-and-sisters/ ) asked the question: do we truly care about the people of haiti after the devastating earthquake and hurricane five weeks ago?

we do not even care about the haitians that have entered our country. correction: we care enough to get them out of our sight by flying them back to a country that is in shambles.

i was trying to imagine what it would be like to be one of these haitian refugees:

surviving a disastrous earthquake;

making a decision to leave all you know from the only country that you have know;

trying to find food to eat and a safe place to sleep;

gathering your children and taking a few things that you can carry;

trying to be aware of shady people who can take the little you have or exact physical or sexual harm;

figuring out a way off an island to get to a place where you do not know anyone, the language or the culture;

arriving at that place and continuing the above actions anew in a strange place;

negotiating a way to get north to the usa– through more new and at times dangerous situations. children in tow;

crossing a shallow river with thousands of others and

waiting in sub-human conditions for a response;

being put on a plane to be brought back to haiti that is in the same– or worse– shape than when you left 11 years ago.

how many countless stories of pain fill in this brief and incomplete summary an unimaginable journey? it breaks my heart to think about it. the haitians that crossed the rio grande are perhaps the strongest people on earth. or God’s grace is more generous that we realize. probably a combination of the two.

shame on us for being so obtuse and uncaring towards our brothers and sisters. we allow it because we do not see them men, women and children as our brothers and sisters.

a stitch in time saves nine

as we continue to turn our eyes away from these people in need, how much worse will it become in the future? how much more suffering and death will we tolerate?

let us please admit that we are not acting like a christian nation. let us confess that we really do not love one another as jesus loves us. let us hang our heads in shame that we choose not to see and act like the Spirit is prompting us.

Lord, have mercy on us all