THE MOTHER OF EXILES

THE MOTHER OF EXILES

Emma Lazarus composed the poem "The New Colossus" for the Statue of Liberty that stands in New York Harbor.  Many of us know the lines

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Listen to the first few lines of this great poem,

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

Lazarus called her the "Mother of Exiles".  The true Americans are those who lived on this land before the Europeans came, the Africans came most as slaves, and the Asians came.  Most us are descendants of exiles.  We are the sons and daughters of the "wretched refuse", the homeless, and the tempest tost as Lazarus calls us. Our ancestors came in search of the basic rights we call the bill of rights. Some of our ancestors came as debtors and thus indentured servants.  Some of our ancestors came in chains treated as inferior and enslaved to hard labor and no freedom.  They were bought and sold.  We fought and took the lands of those who were native to this land. 

 We formed a nation full of exiles with different languages, nationalities, ethnicities, and religions.  We found a way to form a nation that is built on diversity that seeks "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness". Recognizing that we have been created with "unalienable rights" we declared with boldness that we have all been created as equals.

We heard the commandment of God

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?"  (Micah 6:8)

We are very diverse in our religion, in our politics, and in our economic theories. We wear labels like conservative, moderate, liberal.  We are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Tea partiers, and many other political views.  We use technology to persuade, to fight, and to defend what we believe to be true.  We are Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Catholic, Mormon, and many others in our faith.  Some of us are agnostic or atheist, some are wiccan and/or pagan.  We may be Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist.  We may believe in a strong federal government or we may not.  We may ascribed to Ayn Rand's view of no government interference in business.  

We often find this diversity challenging to the point of stalemate where politicians become so entrenched in political views that government is shut down.  We have fought a long war on our own territory over the rights of individuals vs government and the rights of states vs a strong central government.  Many lives were lost.  In the end, the UNITED STATES remained as one nation of exiles bound by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution that defines the balance of power in three branches of the federal government.  We are seeking to understand justice, equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

We are not always kind to each other.  Seldom, we are humble before God and other nations and peoples of the world.  We like to think we are the greatest nation, city that is set on a hill as a light or beacon for all the world to follow.  We have neglected to confess our sins of discrimination, abuse of human rights, and the attitude of superiority that we often convey. We often preach human rights but fail to do what we preach.  So we find ourselves in a stalemate of ideas, political philosophy that hides behind the freedom of religion or the freedom speech to spew the venom of distrust and distortion of truth to gain political power.  

We have forgotten that our country has a federalist form of government.  Power is to be shared between the federal government and state and local governments.  We are a constitutional Republic As a republic, the affairs of government are public.  Our leaders are elected by the public or appointed and approved by our elected representatives. The rub has always been the role of the national or federal government vs the local government.

It is so easy to get discouraged, disheartened, and disinterested in the current state of stalemate over health care, immigration reform, political appointments, and and gun control.  We have dug our heels deep in the ground of I am right and you are wrong.  We have resorted to name calling, yelling our views, and demanding our way.  We no longer listen or seek solutions.  We demand those who oppose us to capitulate to our way or thinking or we will shut down the government, or filibuster legislation, or just not take any action on what we oppose.  Each side points to the founding fathers and the their intent to support their view.  One thing about our founding fathers has been forgotten, they found a way to form a government that has worked in the best of times and the worse of times.

I am proud to be an American.  I am thankful for the rights, the freedoms, and the life I have.  Being number one or the light of the world does not interest me.  I care about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  I care about equality and doing justice, showing kindness, and walking humbly before God.  I care about the homeless, the mentally ill, the disabled, and the wounded.  I am thankful for the veterans who have died and who have fought to keep us free.  

It is time to find a way to make it work.  Let's lay down the name calling, the struggle for power, and the hypocrisy of being the best. Let's find a way to pay off the national debt, end discrimination, allow employers the right to conduct their business without so much government intervention, resolve the immigration problems of illegal aliens.  Let's offer each other the hand of uniting of our diversity to become the UNITED STATES!

think about it.

Roy