“The media is ruining this country,” we were told on the phone recently. “We can’t save everybody. I can travel all over the world because I have my paperwork in order. Mothers exposing their children to danger and hardship on the Mexican border should be jailed for abuse.”
Right after that, another mother called and was just as upset. She vowed to do all she could to make sure no one ever reads our paper again. Her reasoning was that spraying tear gas on children was nothing compared to how savagely Jews were treated in wartime Germany, and that tear gas aimed at children was not even dangerous.
Both women chose to call us and give us the what-for because they don’t agree with our politics, and both women had a point. Yes, people need paperwork to travel about freely. They have to prove where they were born, to whom, the reason for their trip, and when they’re going back. If any one of us wants to cross borders without proper paperwork, well, forget it.
But seeking asylum because you and your family are in danger is different, and we have provisions for that. The problem is our government does not want to abide by those provisions, so instead we’ll spend money on a wall to prevent anyone we don’t like from coming here seeking legitimate, legal and compassionate asylum.
Not allowing people in fear for their lives into this country is great if we are certain those people are killers and disobeyers and stealers and miscreants. But to tell people who are desperate to work and live in peace that they are not welcome is flat out mean. We know that no one has to be unkind to anyone unless they want to be, but any response should be based on fact, not fear.
These two women were upset by a Wolftoon, an editorial cartoon, which, yes, is meant to provoke thought and untangle energy so we can see in one panel the depth and tragedy of treating others as subordinates.
Who in the world wants to dwell on how bad things are? Not us. We want to have pretty views and enough money that we can sit on the front porch and enjoy our night-blooming dementia in safety.
Several Wednesdays ago a woman stopped to get a paper out of the box in front of Quicksilver that we had just filled. She thanked us for providing a free newspaper and said she was from Berlin, here for a visit.
We had to ask. “Tell us. Do you all hate us because our prez pulls out of agreements, disses your way of life, cusses your chancellor, tosses candy at her and makes everything about money?”
She laughed and said no. “You all are well aware of our history and how in the 1920s we were taught to be racist because of fear. It took hold in the thirties. By the forties we were in an all out war that none of us saw coming. We were complacent. We shook our heads, but that was all. It nearly destroyed us. But it didn’t.
“We love you Americans. Don’t fret. We’ve been through this. It’s just your turn.”
Admittedly, Trump lost us in August 2015 when he said, “This country is going to hell.” We simply don’t believe that. We understand that poverty wants much, but greed wants everything, and we have a prez obsessed with money. Does that enhance his life or define it? And who cares?
Call Trump a liar, bully, misogynist, homophobe, cheat, and demented buzzard. It only means he’s pushed our buttons and none of it is illegal.
But if he’s proved to be a stealer or a traitor, throw the book at him. Don’t sign a deal where if he resigns he won’t go to prison, unless he is stripped of citizenship and must live in another country. If they’ll let him in.
Mary Pat Boian