I am a writer and a Practicing Christian. From time to time I write on things in the news headlines that bother me. You can read a couple articles here, and here. Sometimes, I stay silent, suspending judgement because I’m not sure what I think. The past several weeks our nation has been in uproar due to the Trump administration’s decision to separate families at the border. I did not suspend judgement, but instead did my best to stand against family separation. I tweeted, I wrote letters of outrage. I made phone calls, and I wrote a few things on Facebook.
The Trump administration has until Tuesday to return all children under the age of five to their families. They have several additional weeks to return older children to their families. Interestingly, the government has started using DNA testing for verification because they aren’t altogether sure who goes with whom.
A few weeks ago, John and I received a letter from the IRS in the mail. Apparently, we forgot to claim some of the income I received, and they are charging us a couple thousand dollars in back taxes. To my chagrin, it does seem we are the ones at fault. We mailed the check off this week, unable to prove them wrong.
How could the government be aware of a couple thousand dollars of my back taxes, but not know what child belongs with which parent? It would seem that if they are going to rip children away from their families in order to stand on the integrity of proper immigration policy, the least they could do is document the whole fiasco with some modicum of accuracy. But alas, we live in difficult times, don’t we?
We live unprecedented times. Thirty years ago, we could never have imagined the power of social media. To think that the #MeToo movement has torn down men in high positions and called them to account, or to realize that Twitter and Facebook put such pressure on the administration that they would end the separation of families at borders, or at least amend their policy. Twitter and Facebook have become the new public square. Behold, the power of the mob.
It is here, that I’d like to pause for a moment and reflect on a couple of things. I am deeply thankful for some of the ways I’ve seen Facebook and Twitter gather the voices and help us stand together for a common good. I believe it’s right and good to use these mediums to stand up and use our voice to advocate for the voiceless. I’d also like to speak a word of caution. Things are moving at unprecedented rates. Issues are made public so fast and so quickly, I can’t always keep up, nor do I always know what I think about these things.
My word of caution is this: it’s important, perhaps now more than ever, to ground ourselves in principles that stand the test of time. Principles such as kindness, neighborly love, and giving one another the benefit of the doubt. When you are able, have important conversations face to face, in person, and look the person you feel called to rebuke in the eye.
For much of my adult life, I flew back and forth, and eventually lived in a country that was torn in two between the right and the left. Chile endured a political ultra-right regime for seventeen years. I stumbled upon this nation after their vicious dictator was voted out of office. Many of the people I met were in favor of his regime, grateful for his strict militant ways, and his economic policies that brought stability and growth to this sliver of a nation.
There were also many in Chile who opposed Pinochet and died for it. I have friends whose parents worked hard to overthrow him, and ended up in exile for nearly two decades.
One thing I learned during my years flying in and out, back and forth to Chile, was that truly good people stood on both sides of the great divide. I had dear friends on both sides of their political mess, patriots who loved their country and wanted it to prosper.
Looking back, I would easily have gone with the left. I would have worked against Pinochet. I’m pro-union and fiercely committed to the freedom of the press. But some of my friends then and now were in favor of his military take-over, and though we disagree, we found ways to be friends with one another.
The important thing to remember is that Pinochet’s dictatorship ended. He lost the first free election he believed was a shoe-in. (Don’t ever mistake fear for love. One is loyal, the other is not.) And Chile was left with itself. The neighbors who had betrayed one another, the families of the dead were left to grieve their lost loved-ones (some still grieve), and the ordinary people uninterested in the things of state were all still there, and it was they who were forced to pick up the pieces of his cruel regime that not everyone even believed was all that cruel. Many believed Pinochet did what was necessary for the sake of the common good.
My point is that even after that terrible dictatorship ended, Chile was still Chile. They were still themselves, a strong and stalwart people, flinty and reserved, a people who love their country, their empanadas, their delicious homemade bread, their flag, their language and their own, as much as they love their own lives.
Trump’s administration will come to an end, whether by time or by vote. And we, the people, will still be here, together. We will all be here long after Donald Trump’s days of power come to an end.
And so we remember …
Whatever, or whomever we fight, whatever we oppose, whatever we tear down, we must also be willing to rebuild and restore, for we do not have the luxury of tearing down and moving on. This land is the land we will give to our children and our children’s children. The people we so easily oppose on Facebook and Twitter are the future mother-in-laws and father-in-laws of our children. They are the ones we will work with side by side to repair all the awful damage that has come to our country during this time.
Therefore, we work with care, with respect, with truth, but also with kindness, and yes, with as much laughter as we can muster, remembering that this will pass, and we will still, always and forever, only have each other.
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