What has happened to our compassion for others in America? I remember as a youth of the 60s a TV commercial showing a ship unloading huge white bags with the word “CARE” on the outside. Here, the United States was giving of its bounty to other countries so that others would not starve. I remember feeling such pride in our country that we had so much, and were willing to give to another country.
It seems that we have moved from giving to the ‘least of these’ to the manifestation of the t-shirt – “don’t get mad, get even”. Now we, as individuals and the government, think it’s all about us. That, we in fact, don’t need other countries – that everything ‘foreign’ is somehow cheating America. I don’t blame the federal government for this entirely, we voted them in. We have let our compassion for others be overridden by ‘making them pay for not being the way we want them to be’.
America has been from its very beginning a place of refuge from other countries. A place where there was opportunity, where there is a ‘fresh start’ for people from anywhere in the world. The opposing argument is that criminals come into America. Certainly, if 1000 people come into the Country, not all of them will be upstanding citizens. In our own towns and neighborhoods, the same could be said. Anyone who breaks the law should have ‘their day in court’ as promised by the Constitution.
I would hope that we, as individual Americans, would lean into compassion for others before we embrace our ‘get even’ philosophy. What truly has made America a great country is not how we have bullied others, but rather our love and compassion and acceptance of new people, new ideas, and offering a fresh start to those from countries near and far.
I fully believe that Americans generally have a lot of compassion for people, regardless of their citizenship or country of origin. They are among the most generous people in the world. I think it’s just come to the point where they’re tired of being abused; tired of endless demands, tired of waste, fraud, and abuse; tired of spirally debt; tired of taxes; tired of being taken advantaged of. Of course everyone should have due process. But it’s not unreasonable to think that someone who is demonstrably in the country illegally may not get released and granted other benefits. His/her day… Read more »
Four years of Biden* and a WIDE OPEN SOUTHERN BORDER has ended in way too many parents losing their children to murder, child trafficking and fentanyl deaths.
We are not a country without compassion, but we have, for far too long, overlooked taking care of and protecting our own house in lieu of the criminal Left acquiring votes.
I understand your compassion. However, we do not need open borders to allow illegal immigrants to flood our country and take monetary and other resources desperately needed by our own citizens. There are legal ways for immigrants to be accepted into our country.
Thank you Mr. Mathis for a succinct and on target statement of who we should aspire to be, both toward the very hard working immigrants who often do jobs most Americans won’t do (for any amount of money) and toward all of our neighbors. I have a friend who wears a tee shirt that says something like – “No one knows the silent battles other people are fighting.”
Thank you for the reminder that empathy may be our most important quality.
America’s greatness has always been in her open doors to immigrants, generosity to other countries, and its compassion. Thanks for reminding us what truly makes a country “great”.