There was a recent national news story of an undocumented worker who saved a young boy in the Arizona desert after the boy’s mother was killed in a vehicle accident. The man realized what would happen to him if he stayed with the boy, but his humanity and caring for another prevented him from turning a blind eye and walking on. He chose compassion.
In America, the immigration debate has become a wedge issue designed to marginalize human beings based on their residency status. The arguments against illegal immigration are often presented in an abstract and philosophical manner — protect the borders, preserve a certain idealized culture, follow the rules — but the arguments seldom touch on the humanity of the person or the pain they are suffering.
Buddhism looks beyond labels and attachments to philosophies — political and otherwise — and looks toward compassion and seeing the humanity of others. It is easy to withdraw and decide that the source of our pain is external. It is far harder to lean into our own suffering and then work on alleviating the suffering of our whole human family.
American Buddhist Justin Whitaker wrote of seeing a cartoon on a professor’s door that had two Native Americans overlooking the building of a colonist’s fort. One says to the other: “They ignore our customs and refuse to learn the language. I say we kick them out!” Do you agree?
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