The spies return from scouting the land of Israel. Ten return with a negative report. They say: “All the people that we saw in it were men of great size and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves.” (Numbers 13) Every morning I read the newspapers. Every evening I watch the TV news. During the day I read online reports. The other day a father and daughter drowned in the Rio Grande while trying to cross the United States-Mexico border. Their names were Oscar Alberto and Valerie Martinez Ramirez. Many others have discovered a similar fate. Some fled worn torn Syria. Others ran from persecution in Sudan. Some escaped violence in Central America. Others left poverty in Venezuela. They see in America a promise and hope. Every morning I read the newspapers. Every evening I watch the TV news. During the day I read online reports. And that is all I seem to do. I offer up excuses for going about my day as if the plight of refugees and asylum seekers is normal. “B
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there." Rumi