Bless the beasts and the children!
My great, great, great grandfather came to this country alone at the age of ten or so just in time to grow up and fight in the American revolution in a Virginia foot unit. He arrived in New York and found himself six months later in Virginia. When we think of him we cannot help thinking of all of those children who have arrived at our borders over the last few weeks as they try to escape the violence in their homelands, much of it caused by drug cartels who are in a fight among themselves and with their governments to see who will supply the burgeoning drug market in these same United States. And, we think of the statement made by Jesus Christ when he told his disciples to let the little children come to him.
When we think about it all, it is a wonderful thing that after everything families still are willing to risk it all to try to see that the thing that they love more than anything else in the world might find some safety and comfort in these United States of ours. We are, after all, all immigrants here to one degree or another. My family has been here for generations but, in the beginning, they came seeking something better for themselves and those that they would bear. We were recently in New York City and we visited the Statue of Liberty and remembered all of those immigrants who gave a shout in their boats when they saw her torch emerge out of the midst’s of the sea.
How can we turn children away in their alone and desperate situations no matter where they might come from if they have the courage and the hope to try to make it to our shores? Those who would do that sort of thing are cruel beyond any shadow of a doubt. And what will happen to those that we slam the door on when they are returned to the savagery from whence they came? What will they think of America and what will they do about those thoughts when they, if they are lucky or blessed, reach their maturity. We are already fighting a host of radical jihadists who want nothing more than to see us all dead by any means possible. We remember reading about a letter found in government files written by a very young and admiring Fidel Castro to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
We have a legacy here in this nation and upon these shores that is far older than any of us can remember. It is a tradition of taking in those who are forsaken by their own. It is a part of the fabric of this nation that extends as far back as when the first of us sat foot upon this place and we are all a part and carry within us those who cared so much and braved so much to make this place what it really and truly is: a haven and a place of safety for all mankind.
Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice
Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see
Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them
Give them love
Let it shine all around them
Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from the storm
Keep them safe
Keep them warm
IOVHO,
Regards,
Joe
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