Children in cages

Lately I have found myself telling friends that I’ve lost hope in our system… The too many stories of children, some in cages, held prisoner in concentration camps here in the United States rip apart my insides and dare me to ask: How do we solve this tragedy?

Photos of crying children, terrified babies, make me furious. Is this what we’ve come to? How can persons who call themselves good and decent act this way? And in this country… 

Tiny children, little hands squeezing a chain-link fence, held prisoners. There have been reports of kids in cages, sleeping on blankets on cold concrete floors. There’s a photo of a two-year-old bawling, her mother being arrested, charged with a misdemeanor for illegally entering the country. Sadly, that child does not know that it’s only going to get worse, and she may never see her mother again. 

Have we become so jaded, too busy looking down at our smart phones and laptops, to look up and face what is happening? To do something about it? 

Photographs of children being held prisoners, ripped away from parents, crying, fearful… It is not so unusual in the United States in 2018.

I expect very little from the president. We know who he is. The attorney general is not much better, possibly worse… And yet, I ask myself, where is the congress on this? Members, many with children themselves, who have been slow to react humanely — to children in cages…

But don’t be fooled, this was happening under the previous administration too. So it’s not a Republican problem. Nor is it a problem brought about by the Democrats. This is an American problem. One where human beings must decide if we will act with love — or continue on the road we’re on. 

We already know that Republicans do not have a heart. What is happening in the country proves that. We also know that Democrats helped to create the situation we’re in.

So what is the answer?

I believe in the basic decency of most human beings. So for starters, I will vote in the upcoming elections. Choose candidates not in line with the status quo. Vote for persons that favor what’s best for all of us. And I won’t let them tell me, “Don’t vote for that one, he or she can’t win…” I have not forgotten Bernie Sanders in 2016. 

I am looking for politicians fed-up with the system as it is. As most of us are. I will follow the money; who it’s coming from. In 2018 politics, there are very few spending large dollar amounts on candidates — for the right reasons. In other words, large amounts, from very few sources, should scare us…

It has become a system of winning and then gaming the system. It favors the very few.

But this is just one tiny solution to a very big problem.

Let’s make 2018 the year we help put America on the road to sanity. Please. Let us start thinking of other ways to bring about change. Quickly.

Because as is, we’re putting innocent children in cages. 

Think about that… Then tell me if you can sleep in peace… because there are many who have been torn from their parents here in this country; children whose scars will never allow them to ever dream again. Theirs will be nightmares.