Michael J Cohen, my grandson, is my guest poet for today’s poelitic.
***********************************************************************************************
Dear Reader
I know that we need action more than we need words right now, but I felt myself moved to write something on the latest executive order banning refugee entry into the US. It is the moral callousness and human cost of this that disturb me most. The Torah commands the Jewish people, “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:20). Our world today is different in many ways, but refugees abound with dimming hopes of redemption. I understand the politics of this situation are not without subtlety nor are there easy answers. This poem is not a legal treatise, but I believe we can fulfill the moral imperative to help the stranger without seriously compromising our security – it is not a ruthless, zero-sum equation. Please feel free to share this poem:
Seated with the phosphorescent glow, I read the news
Absorbing every day another blow, and I must choose:
To linger idly hoping that “this won’t be all that bad”
While desperately groping for some news to make me glad
It’s true the new administration set off with a lurch
And with a swift defenestration, Welcome lost it’s perch
What happened to our decency? The openhearted way…
A hardened heart, a fist held clenched, have seemed to rule the day
The old ideals we cherish so demand we take a stand
In apathy they perish, so let’s rise with open hands
And dedicate ourselves unto that sacred, noblest cause:
The orphan’s plight, the widow’s grief
The stranger dwelling in our midst
The human gleanings tossed aside
Those whom Wealth and Power dismissed
The dross of this, our gilded age, whose currency is minted fear
Where someone’s loss, another’s gain, but through it all, one thing is clear:
The golden door, though shut right now, can never, ever rust
So lift the lamp and let her glow to those who tread in dust
Re-forge the ancient fortitude that struggled for the Just
And give your hand to those in need – in this we place our trust.
Michael J Cohen
1/28/17
Please read: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/opinion/sunday/president-trump-meet-my-family.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-5&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article
And please note the following I excerpted from that OpEd:
“In 1875, The Times sternly warned that too many Irish and German immigrants (like the Trumps) could “deprive Americans by birth and descent of the small share they yet retain” in New York City.
In 1941, The Times cautioned in a front-page article that European Jews desperately seeking American visas might be Nazi spies. In 1942, as Japanese-Americans were being interned, The Times cheerfully suggested that the detainees were happily undertaking an “adventure.”
We make bad decisions when we fear immigrants we “otherize.” That’s why Americans burned Irish Catholics alive, banned Chinese for decades, denied visas to Anne Frank’s family and interned Japanese-Americans. And yes, The New York Times sometimes participated in such madness.”
************************************
from Jared:
NO GROUP CAN OR SHOULD POINT THEIR FINGER AT ANY OTHER GROUP!
Fear imagined becomes fear perceived becomes blind hate! But does anyone ever really look in the mirror ???