The Common Bond or Common Enemy?
Over at a financial forum...
Yodi: "Paris, I don't want to say I told you so. Now there are 128 dead including, it seems, 6 Terrorists. My last comments were heavily criticised. Even the dumbest idiot can tell you that if refugees streaming uncontrolled in to the country, there will be a percentage of terrorists among them. (Sleepers better said, looking for those 75 virgins) For those still clapping hands and shouting welcome, there will be a grim awakening."
Fear leads to hatred and prejudice, and the major ingredient in any recipe for fear is the unknown, and we are about to partake of a meal with a hefty tip. We often paraphrase one of our mentor's, the great screenwriter Rod Serling, so here is tonight's offering for your acceptance, submitted for your perusal by a Naybob of Technology...
Your feelings and opinion are understandable. Border controls and immigration limitations are necessary within reason. This begs the questions, not of you but in general... Do you stop immigration? Tourism? Or completely close off your borders?
Your feelings and opinion are understandable. Border controls and immigration limitations are necessary within reason. This begs the questions, not of you but in general... Do you stop immigration? Tourism? Or completely close off your borders?
Today, I found a tattered baseball hat on the asphalt of the parking lot. I fetched the hat and before placing it where someone might find use of it, I noticed a man in the distance, darkening the front of a store. My signal, waving the hat, was welcomed as he came forth. I engaged him through motion, his response was in fluent English once I said, "are we having fun yet?" He said thank you for the hat.
Quite the conversation ensued as a doctor had abandoned his country, taking his family, where he could cross multiple borders, to safety. Reduced to begging in strip mall parking lots, this man was from Monrovia. Not the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains near Hollywood, but the capital of civil war torn Liberia (1991-2003).
Only two days ago, President Obama lifted the decade long sanctions against Liberia. Dr. Quarrel, as I called him, had only escaped his former hell a week ago. I grinned sardonically and said, "for you to be here, doing this, it must be "really nice" back in Liberia?" Dr. Quarrel returned the grin and with an acknowledging and saddening nod, you know the kind, then returned to his post at the front door, hat in hand.
Quite the conversation ensued as a doctor had abandoned his country, taking his family, where he could cross multiple borders, to safety. Reduced to begging in strip mall parking lots, this man was from Monrovia. Not the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains near Hollywood, but the capital of civil war torn Liberia (1991-2003).
Only two days ago, President Obama lifted the decade long sanctions against Liberia. Dr. Quarrel, as I called him, had only escaped his former hell a week ago. I grinned sardonically and said, "for you to be here, doing this, it must be "really nice" back in Liberia?" Dr. Quarrel returned the grin and with an acknowledging and saddening nod, you know the kind, then returned to his post at the front door, hat in hand.
When my wife returned to the car and complained that she was "stuck" not being able to find some trivial clothing item, I shot her a sideways glance, you know the kind, and replied while pointing at Dr. Quarrel, Your stuck? Like hell, No, he's stuck, and elaborated.
You could build all the barriers in the world and it would not stop one who is capable and motivated. Crossing a border, even with barbed wire, massive fence and patrols, will never stop a sufficiently motivated person as "they" can get into any country, at any time. Most have "needs" that are strictly pecuniary or touristic in nature.
Imagine the resolve: of those who believe in reality, and are trying to exit a living hell; or of those who believe in the imaginary, and are willing to exit this world in such a manner as to guarantee avoiding hell in the next. Good luck to all those trying to secure the frontier to a better life now and or in the "hereafter".
You can make it harder, but you can't stop them. Regardless of the circumstances, normal border crossing or mass exodus, there will always be those who can evade the controls, and there will always be undesirables and motivated "sleepers" in the bunch. And there is that necessary ingredient for fear, the unknown. The good, the bad and the ugly, the thing or person to be met, what to do?
This leads to the dilemma of either, having been too lax in border control and immigration restrictions, where the many eventually suffer for the few; or keeping those most in need, suffering unnecessarily for the needs of the many. As there are no free meals, this conundrum comes with a price in the form of a hefty tip.
As has been said before, the worst thing there is to fear, is fear itself. We must not let fear, hatred or prejudice cloud our thoughts or judgment, and he who has never been guilty of this, may cast the first stone. Win-win or lose-lose, and all paradox aside, the aforementioned price is our common bond and common enemy: guilt. A disease far too prevalent amongst men.
Hope is said to be a shining light or beacon, whereas fear is nebulous, darkening, relative, and can and often does lead to a sickness. Not a virus, microbe or germ, but a highly contagious sickness, known as hatred, so deadly in effect it can almost block out every ray of light, and extinguish hope in its darkness. So don't look for it just anywhere, look for it in a passing mirror and hopefully before the light goes out altogether.
You can make it harder, but you can't stop them. Regardless of the circumstances, normal border crossing or mass exodus, there will always be those who can evade the controls, and there will always be undesirables and motivated "sleepers" in the bunch. And there is that necessary ingredient for fear, the unknown. The good, the bad and the ugly, the thing or person to be met, what to do?
This leads to the dilemma of either, having been too lax in border control and immigration restrictions, where the many eventually suffer for the few; or keeping those most in need, suffering unnecessarily for the needs of the many. As there are no free meals, this conundrum comes with a price in the form of a hefty tip.
As has been said before, the worst thing there is to fear, is fear itself. We must not let fear, hatred or prejudice cloud our thoughts or judgment, and he who has never been guilty of this, may cast the first stone. Win-win or lose-lose, and all paradox aside, the aforementioned price is our common bond and common enemy: guilt. A disease far too prevalent amongst men.
Hope is said to be a shining light or beacon, whereas fear is nebulous, darkening, relative, and can and often does lead to a sickness. Not a virus, microbe or germ, but a highly contagious sickness, known as hatred, so deadly in effect it can almost block out every ray of light, and extinguish hope in its darkness. So don't look for it just anywhere, look for it in a passing mirror and hopefully before the light goes out altogether.
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