Caged

Mood: embarrassed
What I'm Reading: Confessions of a Reformission Rev by Mark Driscoll (just arrived today)

A friend of mine, ''Joan'', is stateless. This means that because of political reasons she cannot return to the country where she was born, and she is not a citizen here in Germany either. Every three months, for years, she has been required to go to the German government and ask to stay here. Every three months she faces the risk of being kicked out and forced to find a new country in which to live. Every three months her life hangs in the balance. The government does not allow her to work. They give her money to pay rent and eat, and so she lives. But it is a life which is primarily defined by the act of waiting. It is a world that day by day is drained of color.

She would like to go to the United States. She has always heard that it is a country where immigrants are welcomed with open arms. The US is the ''melting pot'', right? Every time we meet, with a sense of longing in her voice, she asks me about the States. What are the big cities like? Is it really true that they don't have public transportation? Will anyone speak the languages that I have learned? Will they be kind to me?

I would like to say yes, of course they will accept you. You work hard. You want to raise a family and live a quiet life. It is people like you who have made our country what it is today. A year ago I would have felt confident in reassuring my friend. Now I am not so sure. I hear more and more about groups like this who spread nothing but hate. I hope that people will not be silent in the face of this type of thinking, but will rather be vocal in their support of the men and women from around the world who make the US their home. (This is not meant to be a statement on legal versus illegal immigration. It is a question of how do we treat the people around us. How do we talk and think about them when they are not listening?)

P.S-We helped Thomas Lobe move to Köln today!