6/20/21

By Josh Rubin

If it were not inflicting terrible pain on desperate humans, it would only seem ridiculous to try to contain the movement of people from places where their homes are gone, where there is no way of working for a living and feeding their families. Telling people they “should not come” in full knowledge of their dire straits would be like a joke of some kind. Like pouring a shaken up beer into a glass and making a fool of yourself trying to keep the foam from overflowing onto the table. Or packing a bigtop full of clowns into a tiny car.

It would be funny if we could not see the pain and the lives and hearts that we break along the way. If it stops being funny you can try this. Don’t look at the faces of the displaced. Never ever talk to them. Wear earbuds and play loud music when anywhere near. Change the station. Say this with me: you can’t save everyone.

If that gets a little thin, you can switch to offense. Blame them for their poverty and bad luck. I mean, you have problems, and you deal with them. Why can’t they? If even this starts to seem flimsy, move to a gated community. There’s a good one they are building in Texas, I hear.

Photo by Allan Mestel