Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Opened Eyes: A Lesson in Empathy

 I just finished a book that will linger in my thoughts for a long time. It has even kept me awake.


American Dirt is a work of fiction. There is some controversy because the writer is not "brown". But the story Jeanine Cummins tells reflects the plight of many who have come as migrants to reach el notre, the north, the USA.

While I have been aware of some of the hardships suffered by migrants coming from Central America and Mexico, this book made it personal for me. It is both an easy read and a hard book to bear. It is intense and yet hard to put down. 

American Dirt taught me a lot about empathy for migrants who are fleeing from, or escaping from, horrors in their homelands and enduring life threatening hardships along the thousands of miles journey in order to reach what they hope is the safety of American soil, American dirt. Some reach it, some don't. Some die trying. Some find the safety they are dreaming of. Some continue to suffer hardships.  They might be treated like dirt when they get here to America. . 

There are few truly happy endings in these stories. If the migrants survive and reach the Promised Land, there are just next chapters, living on hope and uncertainty as undocumented migrants in the USA. While this book is apolitical, and it was written several years ago, at least their chances of finding some kind of peace and happiness are better in our country now than they were a few months ago. They are certainly better than the chances they had in their homelands.

Now, because of that better chance,  migrants are one again piling up at our southern border. Many are children, sent alone without parents. Can you imagine the heartache of sending your child off into the dangerous unknown, perhaps never to see or hear from them again? That's desperation. For other kids, their parents are dead, killed by gangs and cartels. 

So what do we do about it? I don't know. It is such a complicated issue. Can we take all comers? Can we offer a pathway to citizenship to all the new comers as well as those who have been here for many years? Can we screen them for health and crime hazards? 

I just know that after reading this book, I want us to help the mothers, their children, and the motherless children.  


11 comments:

  1. You ask a hard question There are no easy answers. Not so long ago we came from somewhere. We came for freedom. Historical events show that we had reason to come here. We stole the land from the aboriginals. How do we justify decisions we want to make? It's not easy. Making it possible for people to stay in their homeland would be the best choice.

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  2. I agree with Red. It is a hard question when we have so many in the US in poverty and suffering. It's hard to believe that we have children in our country that are starving. And yet, I understand the plight of those who are trying to escape the horrors of the life they are having now. I don't know. I don't know. Didn't Trump cut off aid to countries in South and Central America? I think one way is to help those countries so people can have a better life there.

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  3. I have been looking for my next read, and will look this one up for sure. We have some friends who are undocumented and who are trying to work through the system while they work hard every day and try to live under the radar so they won't be deported and have their children that were born here left with relatives. The wife came to the US with her parents when she was just over 18, in 1997, so she doesn't qualify for dreamer status. She has been on the list to be considered for legal status for years and checks every day to see where she stands. They came into our lives as workmen, and are the hardest workers we know. However, to sponsor them we would have to bare our lives to the government, deal with detailed and continuous monitoring of all our financial records, expect overseers of our actual life, and be on the hook for any mistake they made. For most of us who have always had freedom, this is too much of a commitment to people we don't know that well. It is indeed a thorny question.

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  4. Thank you for this review. It will be my next book. It is so timely with what is going on at our borders now and anything that could make me understand a bit better would be helpful. I so hope we can help these brave souls, who are risking so much to try go get to our country, either here or by helping to make their lives better in their home countries. We can't turn our backs.

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  5. It is sad their plight and especially if we remember that most of our forefathers came to America seeking better lives also and now we are limiting others from those same opportunities...

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  6. My next door neighbor and source of many excellent book recommendations just told me about this book yesterday. i immediately added it to my want to read list.

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  7. As others have said, many of us had ancestors who fled their homelands for various reasons. My father's family came from Ireland to Canada because of the potato famine. I am grateful they had that opportunity. I hope between our two countries we can provide refuge to many.

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  8. I started to read this book but just could not get past the first few pages. Too sad during this Pandemic. I will read another time.

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  9. I am afraid I cannot read something that will be so emotionally traumatic right now. I will save it for later, but it's really hard for me to keep myself optimistic as it is, Linda. The news is bad enough.

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  10. A really hard question - what should we do? It hurts to think about it, but we are so spoiled and blessed that we don't do anything.

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  11. They didn't send their kids North when Trump was President...not sure was Joe will do with all those kids:(

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