Friday March 17, 2017
"Suffer the little children..."
Tomorrow morning, my
husband and I will board the ferry to
leave the island with 14 kids and 2 faculty members from our local high
school. By boat and bus and train we
will make our way to Manhattan to participate in a Model UN conference. Several thousand high school kids from
various points on the planet will gather to learn in a simulated UN
experience - participating on
committees, hearing position papers, drafting resolutions, making judicial
decisions - - working together across language and cultural barriers to create
solutions to real world problems.
Immigration issues will be among the topics they will work on.
Meanwhile,
this morning's paper editorializes on the effort to “devise new forms of bureaucratic cruelty for immigrants. The latest policy
proposal from the Department of Homeland Security would separate children from
their parents at the Mexico-US border if they’re caught trying to enter the
country illegally.” (Boston Globe “Border policy on kids harsh and ineffective”
Tuesday March 14, 2017 p. A8).

There is a scenario in the Christian
texts where some of Jesus’ own disciples try to keep
children away from Jesus. His stern
rebuke rings in their ears: “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop
them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” Even more pointed,
Jesus teaches “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If any of you put a stumbling block before
one of these little ones......it would be better for you if a great millstone
were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the sea.” The
“little ones” - - young children - - perhaps just “innocent ones” - -
perhaps any child or youth or adult who is defenseless against the power
wielded against them.
Even as
this country continues to wrestle with what “family” means there are still some norms that
remain in our collective consciousness.
One of them is the notion of the value of the family as a social
construct that promotes the safety and well being of children. Stable families tend to give children a
stronger start in life. And yet, there
are policies in the making that would destabilize and destroy immigrant
families.
Currently,
mothers with children who are caught at the southern border trying to enter
this country, seeking asylum, are processed
and released together. The law states
that minors cannot be held in detention.
The proposed new policy would separate mothers from their children. Mothers would be sent to an adult detention
center under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security to be
processed while their children would be taken into custody by the Office of Refugee
Settlement under the Department of Health and Human Services. (Boston Globe Editorial
March 14, 2017 p. A8).

Perhaps
Jesus’ words for this age might be “Whoever welcomes one of these children in
my name is responsible for seeing to it that the child is safe in the arms of
his/her parents and that the parents are welcome too.” Perhaps he would say “Get your act together and work this out in the most loving
and compassionate way.” And, of course,
he might reiterate: “Whoever welcomes one of these little ones welcomes me.”
The threat
of the “millstone around the neck” was never literal - - but the weight of the cruelty to children inherent in the proposed
DHS policy ought to feel just that heavy on the neck of the powers that be. Perhaps it might weigh heavily enough to warrant reconsideration; perhaps heavily enough to warrant a turn in
the direction of hospitality and compassion as attributes to be utilized when
considering the fate of so many suffering members of the human family.
Tomorrow we
will begin a 4 day journey with 14 teenagers - children on their way to
becoming adults. We will witness them
participating in a process that teaches their minds how to cooperate with
others to solve problems. We will watch
as their budding consciousness is stimulated and shaped by their experience of seeing life from the perspective of their peers from around the world. We will also learn more about how we need to
protect and nurture the precious resource that the children of the world
represent for the future of humanity.
For after all - we have it on great authority that they are considered the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven and that it is indeed to such as these that the reign of
peace belongs. The sacred texts do not
discriminate across social and political boundaries. They simply tell us that we must not fail
the little ones entrusted to us.
Vicky Hanjian March 17, 2017
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