In this the 21st century we are still putting fellow human beings in cages. Not too long ago we separated families and caged children – some of which were never reunited. Presently in an ostensible hunt for criminals, our society has cast a wide net as it trawls through humanity and retains many of a certain hue whose only transgression has been a migration from fear with a desperate yearning to be free.

In times past, this country maintained a lamp beside the golden door as a symbol of a welcoming haven, but no longer. The English fled a King and settled here, the Irish fled a famine, Germans and Poles fled wars, Italians fled fascism, and Jews fled persecution – as did so many of our ancestors. To reach a haven that rewarded hard work was a goal many could only dream of, but they took the risk in search of a better life. Many felt that to have reached these shores was a grace unavailable anywhere else in a troubled world and that gift of spirit guided their lives and those that followed for generations. To where has that grace fled?

For a country that proclaims “All men are created equal,” and whose religious traditions exclaim, “We are all God’s children,” the present reality disavows those proclamations. There may well come a time when we are asked how well we lived up to the beliefs we claimed, but it will be forever known that we put people in cages for seeking a better life.

It is easy to find fault with the helpless. – Aesop

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Kevin Deeny