Mine! Mine! Mine!!

"Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness."                              

~ Napoleon Hill ~

"Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race."

     ~ William E. Gladstone ~

I find myself becoming more and more ashamed of being part of the human race.  Sounds harsh, doesn't it?  Before I go much further, let me explain here and now, the finger is pointed as much at me as it is anyone else.  I'm guilty of the same selfishness.

Specifically, I'm enormously troubled by the "our country versus your country" mentality we seem to share here in these United States.  "Illegal" immigration is a topic you hear about every day around coffee tables, bars, dinner tables, and the local and global news.  What surprises me is, I never hear anyone in support of immigration.  Actually, I've heard a few say they're with it as long as it's "legal."

You know the arguments.  "They're taking our jobs!"  They're getting free health care!"  "I'm paying taxes to support these aliens!"  They're all the same cloaked under a different heading.  We really don't want to help.  

Well, let me ask you something.  When was the last time (and yes, I'm talking to you) any immigrant from any country, Mexico or otherwise, actually cost you a job?  When did it really ever cost you a red cent?  Are your taxes outrageous?  Of course they are.  But do you honestly think a few thousand migrants from another country really make a difference in your tax bill?  Be serious.  It isn't even a blip on the radar. 

And how many of you doing the complaining are getting some kind of assistance yourself?  More than a handful, I would guess.  And each of us reaps the benefits of government services of some kind each and every day.  I'm a fireman.  You want to complain about waste?  Talk to the people who abuse the 911 system every minute of every day, right here in the U.S.  Guess who pays for that.  You!!  

Look, I get that as Americans we have a certain attitude of thinking we're better than thou.  And if the field we're playing on is divided by imaginary lines drawn on some map; borders, if you will, then protecting what's "ours" and not sharing with those that need it makes sense.  Survival of the fittest, right?  Natural Selection and all that.  But unless you're ready to take Natural Selection all the way and let the human race suffer or succeed based on wealth and location, you better be ready to play to the end.  It's a tough game.

So, here's what I don't understand.  Thousands of children (not to mention the hundreds or thousands of adult migrants) are crossing our "borders" and need help.  You seriously don't want to offer it to them with open arms?  Shame on you.  These aren't Mexicans.  They're people.  They cry like you, smile like you, thirst like you, live like you.  They only want a way to make things better for their family.  And these children that have no one!!  You better take them in, clothe them, and love them.  Do THAT or don't you dare call yourself a Christian (which just happens to be the religion most Conservatives think our nation is based on.)  Don't you dare.  Jesus wouldn't have cared where they came from.  He'd have helped them.  No questions asked.  If the tables were turned, you'd swim every river, cross every border, and break every law to find a way to make things better for your family.  If you wouldn't, then shame on you again.

The concept of borders just fascinates me.  Why do humans feel such a need to separate themselves from each other?  Are we really that self-centered?  Without borders, without the need to protect our own while taking from others, (Oh, PLEASE don't tell me you think the good ole U.S. doesn't engage in that) there's no need for war, or hoarding, or selfishness.  It blows my mind to think that in the 21st century, killing people is still the way to resolution.  Every soldier ever killed from every country ever ENGAGED in war was young, had a family, children, parents, a home.  And they died for what?  For their country.  They died for an entity that uses young men and women as disposable items in a game meant to control the global economy.  It saddens me.  It makes me sick to my stomach.  And don't get me wrong.  I have the utmost respect for our brave men and women who have sacrificed their lives for a concept they believed in.  That's the way the system is now.  But it's broken.

If you have a roof over your head, food to eat and 20 dollars in your pocket, I estimate you're wealthier than 80 percent of the world population.  80 percent.  I just bought a new truck.  I'd say that means I'm probably wealthier than 90 percent.  And yet, I haven't given a dime lately to a needy child in another part of the world.  Those kids aren't Africans or Asians.  They're children.  They're people for cryin' out loud!

I don't have the solution to this.  I don't.  But what I do know with all my soul is that fences aren't the answer.  Borders aren't the answer.  Wars aren't the answer.  In 2013, the U.S. spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 BILLION dollars enforcing immigration laws.  I wonder how many of them we could have just fed and housed with that money.  

Take down the fences.  Let them come.  Feed them.  Love them.  House them.  It's what Jesus would do.  And it's what we should do.  Because in the end, "each other" is all we're ever going to have.  And if someone comes along to save your behind, I'm guessing you won't care what border or fence they crossed to do it.

We're people.  Humans.  How about we start acting like it. 

    

ROLL TIDE

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures."

                                              ~ William Shakespeare ~

The giant tree you see pictured above, now driftwood, lies partially nestled in sand and lava on the beach in La Push, Washington.  By the most conservative of estimates, this tree likely lived to be more than 500 years old.  500-1000 would not be out of the question in terms of age.  There's just no way to be sure.

To put that in perspective, this tree stood before the first Black slaves arrived in Spain.  It stood before Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa and Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  It lived before the Holy Roman Empire attacked Rome and before the Council of Trent defined Catholic Dogma.  It lived before Henry VIII executed his 2nd wife and even before the advent of the modern Gregorian Calendar.  It's been around a very long time.

Assuming it DID only stand 500 years, that says nothing of the possible decades, even centuries, it floated around the Pacific Ocean before being delivered by what was obviously an enormous wave.  It also takes nothing into account regarding how long the tree has actually been where I found it.  And when you consider its incredible mass, clearly many thousands of pounds, it doesn't take long to also consider the incredible power it took to deliver it on that beach...........water.

More specifically, it was clearly set upon the shore by a massive wave, probably a Tsunami, which is not uncommon for the area.  You should see all the tsunami warning signs!  A wave powerful enough to lift and deliver a tree weighing thousands of pounds did so with ease.

Now consider the picture of the wave above.  This image is one I captured on the coast of La Push and by most standards perhaps only crested at two to three feet high.  Still, it's an impressive display of power.  Now imagine hundreds of thousands of waves just like that one, hitting the shore each and every minute of every day for a millenium.....or longer.  Wave after wave after wave crashing, grinding, pounding, and molding the very shores of every land on earth.  It is, without a doubt, an impressive display of power and certainly one to ponder.

As I stood and watched wave after wave crash upon the shores of the Olympic Peninsula, I realized that, as powerful as these waves are, including the tsunami, there is a much more timely and powerful force at work.......the tide.  You see, no matter how many times or how hard a wave crashes, it is powerless against the tide.  Twice a day, EVERY day, the tide comes in and the tide goes out.  It happens without fail.  And regardless of the number, size, or power of the waves, how far they reach is determined by the tide.  They can growl, snarl, and pound all they wish.  The tide wins the battle every. single. time.

And of course, that made me think about life....and people.  We're like those waves, aren't we?  We crash and pound and beat ourselves against the shore in search of this thing or that thing, or peace, or enlightenment, only to find time and again that the universe has a tide....an ebb and flow.  No matter how hard we crash against it, the direction of the flow controls how far we reach.  Sure, we can fight it.  In fact, most of us often do.  Some of us ALWAYS do.  But the key to "happiness" or "peace" isn't in crashing harder.  The key is going with the flow.  (Sounds like a river trip I took once)  ;-)

So perhaps you'll consider the waves and the tide and think about whether you're pounding against the tide or with it.  I can assure you, with it is easier.  You may not like the idea of being delivered where you hadn't planned, but make no mistake, you'll be delivered where you're needed.  Whether or not you accept where you're delivered is the key to peace.  I'm almost sure of it.

Ride the tide.....it's going with or without you.