This is a day we remember and honor Fred Korematsu, an internee who challenged the Japanese-American internment during WWII. So it’s appropriate that today’s Thursday Thought be a quote from him. It’s an important warning about our treatment of all ethnic, religious, and even socio-economic groups today.
I’ve been watching those 3000, then 5000, then 7000 migrants in the caravan from Honduras through Mexico toward the U.S. I’ve heard the statements–none of which have been observed or proven–about the group containing criminals, gang-members, and mid-Eastern terrorists. As I look into their faces on the news I put myself in their midst.
Since I’ve been widowed I’ve been urged to move into a smaller home or apartment in a more affordable area. I think about it and realize I would be giving up all that I’m familiar and comfortable with, like my friends, local family, my church, the city I grew up in, and neighbors who support me. I’d move to an area where I’d have to learn to navigate new roads and find the best shopping. I’d face people with different attitudes towards us senior citizens and/or disabled. My new location would require new ways of doing things, new challenges for me to adapt to. In short, it would likely take a long, uncomfortable while to become “home.”
I believe that these souls who are walking thousands of miles carrying a few meager belongings and their children are just what they say they are. I believe they are giving up their homes and all they held dear to escape violence, danger, death, and poverty that never ended despite their hard work. I believe they’re looking for a better life where fear and uncertainty is not a daily occurrence. I believe they are willing to work hard to give their children a chance to survive and grow into productive adults.
I’d be leaving behind so much less than they are, taking a far less of a chance than they are, working a lot less hard than they will have to work to achieve their new life.
And I have a real choice, while they do not. I get it.
Ever see the movie “The Great Debaters”? About a teacher (Denzel Washington) who did the unthinkable at his mainly Black Texas college—he formed a debate team. In 1935, people were more inclined to shake their heads at the endeavor than to believe that the team would actually go on to challenge Harvard.
Since then, Harvard has formed the Harvard Debate Diversity Program. This year, Southern Black students from Atlanta debated Harvard–and won!
It’s encouraging to watch these students–and Harvard–progress.
(If you haven’t seen the movie, rent it.)
Thoughts are fleeting things–or are they? In today’s Thursday Thought quote, Gandhi challenges this idea.
What he thinks, he becomes.”
We’re entering the season of get-togethers with family, friends, and co-workers. There’s always at least one person who wants to “celebrate” by using the occasion to fight political or personal battles. All you want to do is relax and share good food, drink, and company.
Amy Keller Laird, editor-in-chief at Women’s Health Magazine, offered (December edition of the magazine) five ways to avoid conflict during holiday gatherings. I hope they make the next month or so more enjoyable for you.
Yes, these are all steps that depend on you. But isn’t it nice that you actually do have the power to control the situation?
By the way, I think that these five suggestions are just as good for non-holidays too.
“You’re never too old to chase your dream,” Diana Nyad said after her historic 103-mile, 53-hour swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida. It took her 5 tries and 36 years to do it in a different, more challenging way than the other two people who successfully swam that route did it: through the shark and jellyfish-infested waters without wet suit, fins, or shark cage. When she got tired, this 64-year-old woman recited her mantra–find a way.
I respect her fortitude. I also respect her lesson, which is “We should never, ever give up.” Not that old saw (a damaging, demeaning lie) that you can do anything if you only try hard enough and set your mind to it. No, she emphasizes not the accomplishment of a deed but the pursuit of a dream…the action of working toward something that is worthwhile and energizes you.
Diana reached her goal. Even if she hadn’t, though, the effort itself would have been a triumph for women, “senior citizens,” and the human spirit.