It is true for each of us. Some of the things we have said and done in our individual pasts are ones we wish we had never uttered or acted upon. I am a different person than I was 40 years ago, 10 years ago, and even yesterday. It is the tragedy and triumph of life that we change. The old song says, “I once was lost, but now I am found.” What the song forgets to say is that becoming lost again is also part of the nature of our existence. The trail is unclear sometimes, but that’s OK.
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Through these past few weeks we have seen the fight unfold over the treatment of asylum seekers at our southern border, and we have watched as friends, family, neighbors and leaders have responded to the story. Some have argued, some have expressed despair or rage, some have delighted in provoking ill-considered responses from strangers and acquaintances on social media, and some have sought to place blame and responsibility.
Beyond the heart-wrenching drama and the finger pointing, and beyond the question of whether this is the law of the land or a craven political calculus, our individual response to this national spectacle is important. Why? It is important for what comes afterward, because we can do little in the moment other than hang on while we are in the midst of this sort of crisis. Most of us are just observers, too far away to have any real influence on the outcome beyond reaching out to our leaders to express our opinions, but certainly wishing we could respond.
After the instinctual and uncontrollable reaction of our emotions, our internal response as thoughtful beings is the only thing we can control. This conscious response is what makes us human, so that the next time we face a similar challenge, we can know where and with whom we should be standing. How we respond to watching government officials take children from mothers who are seeking asylum, how we respond to learning of authorities placing innocent children into cages, is a moral and an ethical test. It is a challenge that our faith places before us, whether we want it to or not. And like all true tests, rather than uselessly exposing banal success or failure, this national challenge shows us what we must learn.