World is not a nice place, but suffering at border must end
It was 90 degrees at 10 a.m. one recent morning; more heat’s coming. Air conditioning is a necessity. I flashed on little children, struggling across the border in the terrible heat, separated from their parents, left to simmer in vans and pens, on hot concrete, and I wept. God help us and our families when our safety net fails!
The world is not a nice place. UNICEF says 25,000 children die preventable deaths daily, and I know this. So why do the children of the border crossings make me weep?
First, I see the fear. Families fled from Latin America in a hurry, leaving conflict, coercion, and threats from gangs, hunger and despair. No one leaves their home to drag young children across an illegal border unless they have no other choice. Have you ever been driven by fear?
Next, I have many friends who are refugees from Africa. The camp benefits my refugee friends experienced are nowhere here. In United Nations High Command camps, they had food, water, sanitation, and usually access to schooling. The camps were desperate places, dangerous and despair-making, but they sustained life until hope could be found. Our treatment of people is degrading and appalling. Have you ever been hopeless?
Third, these little children are separated from their mamas. From their mamas! In the first few years of life, children form a basic sense of trust or mistrust about the world. They learn that when you cry, someone answers. When you’re hungry, you get fed. And when you’re frightened, a caring soul makes you feel safe.
No one leaves their home to drag young children across an illegal border unless they have no other choice. Have you ever been driven by fear?
Or, they learn that the world is a lonely, frightening and cruel place. And research suggests that this is a lesson that is difficult to heal. Early trauma carries with it an increased risk of social and cognitive deficits, depression, and difficulty in forming relationships in young children. Early trauma and separation, adverse circumstances, can have permanent consequences, says the ACES study (first written about by Kaiser Permanente Hospitals in California). Have you ever cried for your mama?
Finally, these babies are here. They are in the United States, home of the second chance, the American dream, where nearly 40% of our people attend a religious service every week. Whatever we do to the least of these children, we do to our Creator. We can make a case for the radical hospitality of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions. How can this alienation be here?
What to do?
Make noise. Refuse to become inured to suffering. Tell your representatives, your neighbors and your co-workers that this won’t happen in your America. They must release funds for humanitarian aid from both houses of Congress. You might donate, but frankly, we’ve already paid for a sensible immigration system. So vote in 2020 for people who will make it happen.