Opinion: Texas placed razor wire in international waters; what has happened to humanity?
Schools in Burnsville have been closed the past couple of days due to cold weather with the schools serving as warming shelters for those who need this service. First responders have taken on the task of identifying the individuals needing the service and transporting them to the shelters. These citizens requiring warming shelters live in the wealthiest country in the world populated by some of the wealthiest people in the world and yet they find themselves in need of intervention from service providers in order to stay warm.This is happening while we listen to reports of a family that drowned trying to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, a crossing considered by many as the most dangerous border crossing in the world. Dan Rather in his newsletter, "Steady," posted pictures of the two children who drowned, in an attempt to trigger our humanity.According to the reports, Texas officials stood between the migrants and the U.S. border patrol charged with the safety of migrants in these situations. Texas is also the state that has placed buoys and razor wire in international waters to stop migrants from crossing the border between Mexico and the United States.So what has happened to our humanity? What has happened to grace and understanding? Where has respect for others gone? Grace and understanding have never been prevalent attitudes as these feelings often require the effort of appreciating the lives of those whom are deemed different in some way. We have been on a long journey of squeezing grace and understanding out of our social norms for some time now. We are enamored with people who are quite capable of profiting from our divisions. We give power to those who magnify our grievances. We are creating a media that enriches people who make a living reinforcing our resentment of those different from us. Why are we so stimulated by being angry with others? It truly makes no sense.Dating back to the early 1930s, when our nation and the world were struggling under the grips of the Great Depression, our government recognized that it had to take action in order to make life livable for it citizens. So the government instituted programs to put people to work, to get children out of the workforce, and to help older citizens to retire from a lifetime of work. Government began to regulate businesses to prevent profits from taking precedent over the welfare of the people. In the 1960s the government passed laws to ensure that constitutional rights were not hampered by race and, later, came close to ensuring equal protection under the law for all citizens regardless of sex.Unfortunately, the push for justice for all was not embraced by all. In the 1980s, the efforts to reduce regulations on business and to push back on civil liberties began to influence our policy making and, over time, has picked up steam and those efforts seem to be paying off for the privileged few. It has been so successful that we are now at the point where we need to determine if we are a society of people or a society of individuals with individual interests trumping the needs of the many. Are we now a society that needs to demonize those with whom we disagree in order to secure our own individual and self-serving priorities? One needs to go no further than to take a moment and listen to our political discourse. Regardless of what side of the coin one finds oneself, the tactic is to sling insults and accusations at those on the other side. One side might accuse the other side of mudslinging but in reality, it is coming from both. Personally, I have found myself guilty of this very destructive behavior.It was 2,000 years ago that a man introduced love, compassion and forgiveness as alternatives to resentment, conflict and violence. While we seem to be living on the side of resentment, conflict and violence, we can make life much simpler and more pleasant if we were to put forth the effort necessary to embrace love, compassion and forgiveness. For the benefit of all, can we please give this a try?
More: Opinion: Evangelical Christians don't always follow the teachings of Jesus
More: Opinion: Following truth-telling leaders like Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. is necessary
Lee Sease lives in Burnsville. He is a former Superintendent of Schools in Middlebury, Vermont.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Making effort to embrace love and forgiveness to benefit all
