I recently witnessed the video of two military-clad agents chasing a migrant through cultivated fields of strawberries in California. As the chase proceeded into the distance, I was struck by a haunting feeling – a sense from a dream of not being able to outrun a pursuer. In that dream, I had the overwhelming feeling of unfairness and powerlessness. That dream never came to pass for me in wakefulness, but the realization that it did for another man is something I find haunting.

This episode which was captured in a video clip seen around the world has stuck with me. The vagaries of birth put this worker on one side of a line drawn on a map which impacted his opportunities for a lifetime. I don’t know if the agents in pursuit chose to be citizens of this country or like me, were born here and thus achieved citizenship as a result of their parent’s choices. But the worker running in this far away field, chose to be here – drawn by the promise of this country to which he contributed his labor. A compassionate understanding of that commitment should be our response. No matter which side of a border we are born into, we have all come from the same source, created equal and deserving of equal respect.

This episode will be recalled and retold with varied perspectives, perhaps through the fear and dread of the worker, dutiful pride of the agents, or with sadness for the lack of empathy for this fearful man desperate to experience the promise of this land.

For most, I suspect this distant experience will fade into the constant flow of unsettling images and pass from memory only to be resurrected when we are called to account with the question, “When the moment was upon us, what did we do?”

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Kevin Deeny