Decency demands we do whatever we can
The onus should be more on the individual than the state. There are people sleeping in the street, people just like you and me, not the best, nor worst, just like us, in the cold and hungry, exposed to the elements. If you cannot be compelled to action, the worse off than the former are you.
You cannot trick your conscience into peace; it is attained through virtuous acts and the avoidance of evil deeds. And we wonder why we have an epidemic of mental illness; it should not be a mystery. When, having bounteous resources and surreal methods of communication and transportation, you can leave a fellow human being without so much as a tent and an inflatable bed, you deserve at minimum, a conscience that gnaws at you. For if you don’t care about others, why should anyone care about you?
The way our mind formulates our surroundings is indeed curious. It does so in a temporal way. Which is to say we associate spaces with what they mean to us and not so much as to what they are in a vacuum. People occupy our spaces, in some instances we cohabit areas where people live above, below and beside us. If you don’t trust them or find them to be creatures of ill will, your reality quickly becomes a nightmare surrounded by brain-eating goblins.
But if you are able to create in a single space an environment of virtue and forthrightness, then perhaps your conscience does get some respite and your neuroticism some relief. It may be better for all involved to view the issues and difficulties of processing asylum seekers as one that tries the physical and psychological integrity of those, but more importantly puts in the balance our moral character.
Who will your children see when they look into your eyes? What good will you have to expect from anyone, seeing how much you’ve done for others when the slightest effort could have made so much of a difference? Maybe giving is better than receiving. I, for one, will not leave it to chance to find out; the stakes are too high to not be a good person.
Daniel Barreto, Lemon Grove