No longer home of the brave1/2/2024 ![]() Somewhere along the way, many of our fellow Americans have allowed fear and hatred to guide their thoughts and actions. I was also taught to do unto others as I would have them do unto me. I was taught to trust everyone until they prove that they can’t be trusted. I was taught to help anyone in need in any way possible. I’m a product of the rural South-what many would refer to as the Bible belt. How is it that people can allow fear to influence their decision-making processes to the point that they can justify inhumane treatment of others based on their fears? How can logical people think it is acceptable behavior to discriminate against an entire group based on the actions of few? Ironically, many who are against our federal and/or state governments allowing refugees from Syria seem to be more of the religious persuasion and most arguments that support curtailing the influx of refugees are based on fear-fear that the refugees will bring harm to our nation. I’m certainly no biblical scholar but at an early age I was taught the book of Psalms and specifically chapter 23, which reads in part “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Participating in sports can be dangerous. Driving in Atlanta traffic can be dangerous. We face a multitude of dangers every day of our lives. We hear those who profess to be of good moral character saying it is acceptable to refuse assistance to others in need because they might be a danger to our society. What troubles me is how a national tragedy has so deeply divided our nation. Whatever one’s preferred position on these topics is, there are statistics that can be manipulated to support it. Some will quote statistics of crimes committed by those of the Muslim faith. There are others who quote statistics of the number of Americans killed annually by fellow Americans and others who will quote stats of crimes committed by refugees. Some say Syrian refugees are no less of a threat than fellow Americans now known as homegrown terrorists. Some say the vetting process is not comprehensive enough to weed out possible terrorists from entering the country under the guise of a refugee, which is entirely possible. We have read and heard voices of condemnation and voices of support on the subject of admitting Syrian refugees into our country. The other candidate appears to offer up four years of a terrifying lack of leadership, and potentially impossibly poor decision making that will impact not only the U.S., but the rest of the world, on a very tangible scale.The recent mass killings in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., have put many in our country on edge and again pitted Americans against each other in hotly contested debates over immigration, gun control and refugee admissions policies. One candidate looks as though with a win, there are four years of poor leadership and a weak presidency ahead. For many of them, they are trying to choose between what they see as the lesser of two evils. And I feel for my American friends, as they head to the polls. The issue is that what we are watching unfold before us, and more importantly it’s results, offer up nothing for the rest of the world than possible wild unpredictability. ![]() And I also know that my many European friends have been watching with the same sense of bewildered awe as myself, and we all find ourselves strangely and unexpectedly on tender hooks, and I suspect we will feel that way all day long. With many American friends and colleagues, I have had more than a few in depth conversations about the two candidates, and what the impact of their win or loss would be to the U.S., and to the world. ![]() I have watched this event with a strange sense of morbid fascination. I am, obviously, well aware that whomever helms the great ship America impacts what happens here in Canada, but I think we would all agree that the impact was never as potentially great (or devastating) as what the results of today’s election could be. I will admit right out of the gate that I have never watched an American election with anything other than passing interest.
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