By Darlene VannEDGEWATER, Fla. -- Watching a literal sea of people walking from their countries toward ours for freedom was sobering for me. It terrifies me about what is going to happen to them in the end.
These are old people and little children marching along in horrendous heat with heads held high and hope for a better future in their heads and hearts. Mexico has said they will not let them pass through to the USA. How will they stop thousands banded together with purpose without many being hurt or killed?
Our president has made it clear they are not welcome here so what will he do if they do manage to get here? Not only does it scare me it breaks my heart that any people feel they have to leave their country to avoid persecution and death only to be turned away by other nations with no hearts.
I recall during the war this country refused to let a ship full of Jewish people land on US soil. They were turned back after the already long voyage. I don’t recall where they finally ended up but was ashamed of my country not even trying to help desperate people. Where has everyone’s humanity gone? There has to be a solution to this and a wall is not it.
That was very obvious in Berlin when it was divided after World War II for decades. People died trying to get over the Berlin Wall because dying was better than living the way they were. It seems to be such a heartless world. I don’t know how we got here but we have been doing it since we became a country.
Irish immigrants were treated badly when they came as were Chinese even though both of those races helped build infrastructures in this country and strived to become Americans. Italians were also not treated well as they came to American shores but the majority of these people persevered, worked hard, studied and became good American citizens.
Each had something to contribute and was happy to do so even when relegated to slums, beaten, ridiculed and even killed.
Yes, that was in this country so we are not perfect by any means.
Yet the rest of the world still wants to come to the Land of Freedom no matter the consequences. How sad is that? If you can see that sea of humanity and not be moved by their plight well, shame on you. We have vast lands here with no population, we are not out of room and if we just let them work they will prove their worth. Instead, we separate them from their children and warehouse them which means the government has to feed and clothe them.
Give them jobs and they will do for themselves.
All they need is a chance, temporary green cards not threats of being picked up by ICE and deported to the country they ran away from where they will be killed. Yes, I see the other side of this argument, too, but that side is a negative side with no heart. I realize that not everyone who makes it here will do well but a large percentage will and contribute to this country in many ways given a chance.
Our government needs to spend some time and effort in eliminating slums and slum lords and be sure rentals at decent prices are available to everyone. I wish I had solutions to all these problems but I do not. I don’t see many people in government trying to figure things out either.
The haves- don’t want to give to the have-nots. It’s a sad mess this country is in with no help for any of us in site. You think nothing like this can happen to you? Well, it can in the blink of an eye.
Get involved in your communities and try to help solve the problems. Don’t just sit there and shake your head or shed a tear at the pictures of the throngs headed this way. Get up and do something.