Her Freedom, Our Future

You’re afraid. I understand.

I’m afraid too.

Our world right now is so full of unknowns, so full of questions, that you’re looking for something to hold on to. I can’t blame you.

We all choose to hold on to something to keep us grounded; we look for someone to keep us safe, to bring back some kind of sanity in our world.

And so you’ve chosen to follow someone who claims to have the answers, who claims to know the solutions to the problems facing your country. He claims to know who to blame, and who is responsible for all the issues we face.

He makes you feel safer.

He’s convinced you to turn your anger on those who lack the means to defend themselves. You trust his word that if we can solve this problem, we’ll find a new age of peace and prosperity.

But let me paint a different picture.

There’s a woman. She’s lived in her home country her whole life. She loves to cook and play with her children. She has friends and neighbors that she invites over for dinner, and her children play with theirs.

She loves her home. She wants to stay, but she can’t.

Her children are in danger. As a woman, she can’t live independently. She can’t get a job, own a home, or dress as she pleases.

The same problems apply to her daughter.

But she wants more. She wants a future. She dreams of a day when her daughter can grow up and be free. She can go to school, go to university, and have whatever career she wants.

But she dares not express these desires at home, because she could be arrested. Her life could be in danger.

And so she takes the only choice she can think of. She says goodbye to her neighbors and family. She gathers her money and whatever things she can carry and she sets out on a journey.

A journey to your country.

She knows that if she can make it to your country, she has a chance of freedom, a chance at a life, a chance to provide a future for her daughter and her future grandchildren.

The journey is far from easy. She pays bad men thousands of dollars to hide her away. These men use her, violate her, break her.

But she bears these things, the whole time telling herself that she can handle all of this because of her children.

The bad men lie and cheat and steal, but they do help her reach her destination.

With an immense sense of relief, she enters your country.

My friend, this is not an unusual story. It’s one I’ve heard countless times before in my work. The woman could be from any number of countries. Your home could be any free country.

Expelling this woman and the thousands like her will not bring security and peace to your home.

She wants badly the same kind of peace and prosperity that you seek. Turning your anger on her will not hasten its arrival. Rather, it will divide you from her, two people who are more alike than they are different.

Her peace is your peace. Her freedom is your freedom.

Her children’s prosperity is your country’s future prosperity.

There are many legitimate things to be scared of and angry at. But this woman and the thousands like her aren’t one of them.