Friday, October 9, 2009

"A person's a person no matter how small."

I have been having an ongoing discussion on FB with a friend of mine. He was a good friend to me when I was the misplaced Californian living in the foreign state of Missouri. It was great to meet back up with him on FB, and we got into a discussion about "illegals".

In my life I have always been taught that as Dr. Seuss said "a person's a person no matter how small". How do people not get that? If someone does something illegal does that demote them to sub-human status? If a person is poor and desperate does that demote them to sub-human status? Is it ever right for us to treat anyone as less than we are, or than we feel?

All these were questions I wanted to ask him, but he just did not seem to get it. He felt that the illegals were somehow taking something from him, and trying to get something that is rightfully his. How in this world can we ever think we are more "entitled" to anything than the next guy?

Running through my mind the the story from Le Miserables. The guy was a "ex-con" for goodness sake, he stole candle holders from the church, a pretty wicked guy ha? But look at all the good he did in his life. That plus the fact he was starving when he stole the bread for a child.

What it really boils down to is can we really judge anyone? No we are told that over and over again in scriptures. We can just be kind and try to love everyone and share whatever we have been blessed to receive.

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