Last night I had a bad dream. I won't go into all the details but it was like life was going along fine, interesting little stories, situations but among the good things was a human predator. Someone who killed others and the ones he was about to kill were oblivious to their danger. As the authorities were investigating that one, another predator appeared-- a cougar. The dog, who was its prey, was oblivious again to his danger until the cougar began to eat his tail!
I woke up with no doubts where this is coming from-- the illegal entrants to this country (from all around the world) and our country's obliviousness to what is happening until it may be too late to do anything about it-- not that we seem to have the willingness even if it wasn't too late. Like the dog, we have been sniffing of this and that, exploring our worlds and not paying enough attention to what has been happening.
To me, it's not those people coming in who are the threat. Most are good, hard working and came here with good intentions to make a better life for themselves. But the world is full of people who want that. Where does any nation draw the line; and if it cannot, does it remain a nation? The demonstrators again this week-end remind us all of what's going on and how many of them there are. They say this is like the Civil Rights marches of the 50s but it's not.
This is about whether any nation has a right to establish laws and borders and if the nation, collectively as a whole, does not, then who does? Will it be the loudest, the one who threatens you the most? If we are allowing any people, who want to enter here based on poverty, Africa probably would be first in line. Does sympathy for some who are caught in this, as much from their side as ours, cloud our judgment and ability to make the hard choices? To assume that because most of the illegals we know are good folks ignores the issue. The issue is we ignored our borders for too long, profited from the situation and now we are going to have to pay the piper but is this problem even solvable?
This is about whether any nation has a right to establish laws and borders and if the nation, collectively as a whole, does not, then who does? Will it be the loudest, the one who threatens you the most? If we are allowing any people, who want to enter here based on poverty, Africa probably would be first in line. Does sympathy for some who are caught in this, as much from their side as ours, cloud our judgment and ability to make the hard choices? To assume that because most of the illegals we know are good folks ignores the issue. The issue is we ignored our borders for too long, profited from the situation and now we are going to have to pay the piper but is this problem even solvable?
I have gotten a real enjoyment lately from doing jigsaw puzzles online. I found out they exist from reading a blog by Endment on doing one. I followed her link to another one and voila, there they were in all their colorful and exploring beauty. I do several every day and enjoy how I can for a temporary time forget my own concerns and just look for sizes (crazy pattern is my favorite) and colors that match. When I am done, I have this beautiful picture to admire for a fleeting moment-- depending on how busy my day is.
Life is not like a jigsaw puzzle online. We don't know that we are getting all the pieces and too often we are getting a lot of them that don't fit together at all. The immigrant issue fits this analogy all by itself, but I feel we are facing multiple jigsaw puzzles in our world from the immigration issue, to the war in Iraq, to what will Bush do next about Iran? Will he use the nuclear option and if he does, how does that change the dynamics in the world? Could anyone stop him? Why has he talked so much about settling a democracy in other countries when ours here appears to be in danger? Do we have a fifth column that has been invading our states that in a few years we will find is a new terrorism issue? (The whole situation is very similar situation to what Israel has faced.) Is global warming real or a phony issue? Are some in the United States trying to start a theocracy run by those who think they hear from God directly and are sure they are doing what is best for those of us who don't? What about the bird flu? And if I added on my own life, I could tally up more. All these pieces have been thrown together on the table and the pieces may not fit anywhere or form any pretty pictures.
The good thing is that there are so many good things and it's what I try to center on, putting those pieces together where I actually can, despite nightmares or reading the newspapers. (One good thing this morning was Fran's blog for April 9, about the Impossible Dream. It was encouraging to me to remember that song, to think maybe it's not too late, maybe there are answers.. or than again... maybe not but check out her blog-- "Whether I win or lose doesn't matter." )
4 comments:
I think I should now become more concerned about the immigrant issue. I used to base my picture of the puzzling world on history. I compared us with China.
I studied the Chinese attempt at Sun Yat-sen's democracy. When that collapsed there was anarchy and civil war. There was terrorism then to get rid of the foreigners who were trying to encourage democracy. In retrospect I think China was too big for democracy to take hold. The United States also has too many people for classical democracy. We don't really have significant say as individulas so I hope there is a new social organization other than countries with boarders coming into existance. It is scary but I think people have a great deal of good in them. I have rose colored glasses but I feel sure man has a great capcity to invent and we are going to pull through. I loose sleep over less important things and have bad dreams too. My sleep was disturbed last night as well.
As usual, your thoughts are good ones. I have a feeling that we are witnessing a change of the world order that may be bigger than any of us imagine right now. The world has so many poor and there are rich nations that want to hold onto what they have. It's a built-in conflict.
I have felt for some time that the United States is heading toward a time of the poor and the rich and what we have traditionally seen as the middle class won't exist. The importation of cheap labor mostly benefits the wealthy and hurts the poorer people.
Ironic that many wealthy nations became rich through exploiting resources of the poorer ones and now it may be coming home to roost-- literally.
But change is part of life; and as you said, we seem to be heading for a new system-- like it or not.
Thanks for the plug, Rain, and I am going to avoid going to the jigsaw puzzles online. Oh, dear. I would get addicted, I know. The rallies again today were massive all over the country. I'm so non-political in my old age and how I wish we could come up with a magic bullet.
The Republic of Kiribati has a magic bullet - sort of. They just ship out every other month two to three hundred people to ease their overpopulated ilands. There is only so much room on islands for people so they send them to Christmas Island. Christmas Island is a desert Island with a waste disposal problem. The Japanese will find them work in their new fish processing plant. The United States will send them tourists. Canada will help them with their water problems and Rotary will help them with medical needs.
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