A Child Crying in the Night

A picture not to be forgotten ... look at the child, her grief, her fear, and tell me, please, that we have the right to do this, because this little girl and her mother, her mother hoping for something decent, good, and kind, are "illegal."

To all the "legal" immigrants who came to this land, including my own ancestors, don't ever protest your innocence - that you did it right, or that your ancestors did it so. 

It's just written laws, pieces of paper, political gerrymandering, that determine legal or illegal. 

But is there not a higher law? The law of God? The law of love? Human dignity and worth?

And if you tell me that "your gawd" wants this child to be frightened and alone, and her mother shamed and denied, then to hell with your gawd; I want nothing to do with that kind of religion, that kind of meanness and pride. Your gawd, if that's what you call it, is a sham, a figment of your own distorted notion of pride, privilege, and power.

I don't want to forget this picture, a picture of suffering, suffering much the product of misguided policies, economic manipulation, misogyny, and white nationalism.

There is a higher law, and we all know it. Every human being knows it, and only with tremendous effort can that law be denied and buried under the debris of hate.

There is a higher law, the very purpose of which is embedded in creation, in the covenant, the cross ... and in the words and art, the dreams and dance, of faith, hope, and love.

There is a higher law that declares all are legal in the sight of God - everyone has a right to the shade of their own fig tree, and it's the purpose of God, the work of love, to insure this ... and it's the task, too, of every human being in the position of some power, enough power to make a difference ... for the children of our world.