Let the children come

In July, we shared the Tiger Lilies post, America, Remember Who You Are! with President Obama. 

Then, as now, I felt passionately that we, as a nation, must accept the children from Latin America who had struggled through dangerous territory and life-threatening circumstances to come here. I was terribly saddened a town in Texas would reject the children. 

On September 26, I received an email from President Obama assuring us of his commitment and promise to help the children from Latin America. 

This week, he kept his promise with his courageous legislation to protect the children.

This is not a partisan issue. It is a bold opportunity to reach out with the same spirit that has sustained America through wars, floods, hurricanes, terrorism, civic unrest as she has grown into an ever brighter and better nation. 

This legislation also sends a powerful and courageous message to the world.

America still offers hope, promise and freedom to the oppressed, which is the initial driving vision of our founding fathers. It is who we are, regardless of politics or economics.  That vision has, and I hope always will, prevail over any and all challenges.  It is who we are.  President Obama has demonstrated a rare courage to stand by America's profound identity and mission to our country, our people and our world.

Thank you, President Obama.

From President Obama on September 26:

Dear Victoria:

Thank you for writing. I am deeply concerned about the unaccompanied migrant children arriving at our border. This is an urgent situation, and it underscores the need to drop the politics, respond quickly and effectively, and fix our broken immigration system once and for all.

My Administration continues to address this situation with an aggressive, coordinated Federal response on both sides of the border. We’re making sure we have sufficient facilities to appropriately house and process those who cross our border illegally. We’re also working with Central American leaders to publicize the dangers of the journey and to reinforce that apprehended migrants are ultimately returned to their home countries in keeping with the law. However, it is our legal and moral obligation to treat unaccompanied children with care and compassion while they’re in our custody.

Since the beginning of July, we have seen some initial signs of progress along our Southwest border—thanks in part to my Administration’s response. We are not declaring victory, and we must continue our intensive efforts on both sides of the border. We will keep taking aggressive steps to surge resources to our Southwest border, deter both adults and children from this dangerous journey, increase capacity for enforcement and removal proceedings, and quickly and safely return unlawful migrants who do not qualify for humanitarian relief to their home countries. And I’ve asked Congress to provide the funding these efforts need.

In the long run, though, the best way to truly address this problem is to fix our broken immigration system through comprehensive legislation like the bipartisan bill passed by the Senate last year. It would have strengthened our border security, equipped us with better technology, and bolstered the resources and personnel vital for an efficient removal process—including additional Border Patrol agents, asylum officers, immigration judges, and access to legal counsel. It would have also combated transnational crime and cracked down on criminal networks.

Again, I appreciate your perspective. I am working diligently to bring an end to this situation, and we intend to do the right thing by these children. But I have repeatedly made clear that parents need to know this is an incredibly dangerous situation, and they should not put their children in the hands of criminals.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama


The following is the post from July 17, 2014:

America, Remember Who You Are!

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

- Statue of Liberty

Waves of children, tidal waves of humanity, pour into the United States after a more than 500-mile trek through some of the world's most inhospitable and dangerous landscape.

These precious children, of all ages, are tired, poor, homeless and all are tempest-tossed by war, poverty, and unbearable cruelty in their home countries. They are the innocent of the world, as are the children of Gaza and Israel. These are God's precious little ones, the very ones who Jesus called to himself, begging for their protection.

This time, America, we cannot look away. We cannot pretend we do not see this great and terrible crisis at our doors. Life will never be the same. Don't you see this, by now? It is all ending faster than we can comprehend what is happening. If each one of us could lift our hearts to the border and welcome these children, the world's last breath would be lightened even just a little.

America, did we forget who we are? We are not our government, our corporations, our economy or domestic or foreign policies. We are the light of the world. We must open our hearts and arms to the children, here and everywhere.

We cannot expect our government to do this, and certainly no corporation would suffer itself such compassion. We as people must seek out a way to save these children. They are the children of the world. They are our children. We must save them. If we don't, who will?


WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN A HOLY COMMAND. WE MUST ACCEPT THE CHILDREN!!!

(This message has been sent to President Obama) 

Bright souls divine

Oh, bright soul of mine
please bless and shine
from heaven's source divine
her purest love and light sublime
into this human life of thine

There are times in life, even among the brightest and best of us, those with the most successful careers, happiest marriages, nicest homes, joyous relationships when a dark cloud passes across the heart and mind. A beautiful moment dims, tears come and the heart grows dark. A strange thought flickers into the mind from who knows where, challenging all that preexisting joy, and like a weed, chokes up the garden's perfection.

The news these days, if you're still one of us, who watches or reads it, is sure to breed weeds and heavy clouds, darkening our individual and collective consciousness. Adding to that is another, even more worrisome dynamic at work in our world that needs to be seen for what it is - not challenged or avoided - but simply seen and acknowledged by the collective mind.

The world as we knew it is no longer. Rather, a beautiful, bright, empowering new world is giving birth to a kind of new Renaissance, a Golden Age. We are in that dark and terrible transition between ages. The new is arriving and the old is quickly dying. However, it is not dying quietly. You know, "it will not go silently into that great night."

The old forces of control, which are that proverbial weed in the garden, are growing out of control due to the absence of love in our world today. Those forces of control have created a kind of fallow field, a stony, dried up spiritual wasteland in which nothing can live. In that environment, terror breeds terror, fear, and oppression all of which suck the life out of life, rendering whole continents so impoverished that nothing can endure, and life succumbs to an invisible virus.

It is like an old car spewing out dark, black exhaust fumes and everyone is choking on them. But, there is a beautiful bright shining new car in the garage that runs on solar energy, not gasoline. Let's drive that one, and send the old one off to the junk yard for parts.

If you are keeping track of ISIS' antics, Ebola casualties, the high suicide rates everywhere - especially in Oregon - you must be shaking your head asking yourself why. That's the old world dying, rotting right before our eyes. We must take our eyes off it. That does not diminish our compassion for those who are victims of those terrible plagues and oppressions.

In order to raise the garage door where the new car is waiting to be driven, we must stop driving the old one. We can do this because we are amazing beings. We are divinity in human bodies. We are light in clay vessels. Our minds can turn water into wine. The only reason we don't do it is because we are so deeply mired, so terribly disempowered by the news and the fear spewed out in the black exhaust fumes of a dying age that we are rendered literally powerless. We are allowing ourselves to be victims of a dying old age.

We are beautiful beings of light, living potentially radiant, powerful, creative, loving, joyous lives. In a sense we're here just to be here and radiate and experience being alive in love. Why would we want to diminish that experience, rather than allow it to fill us and raise us into states of sheer bliss, embracing each other and all of life in a kind of harmonic, resonating from heart to heart?

We each have a soul, maybe some of us share a soul, and our human lives are reflections of the light from our soul, which receives its light from the divine source. If we can remember who we really are, we will shine brighter. If we forget, the exhaust fumes of this dying age will block the divine light and all its life-giving power from coming our way. The little sonnet above reflects that awareness in its bid to remember from where we receive our lives.

So if strange unhappy things are occurring around you, (the many strange little tragedies everywhere - from the polar vortex to a friend's home being burglarized) and when times feel frightening, uncertain and confusing, rather than succumb to the fear, look into the sky and imagine your soul star and invite it to shine heaven's light and love into your human life. You might want to put St. John of the Light's little sonnet on your car dashboard or refrigerator or computer at work to remind you of the big picture of which you are an important and key part. Without you, the world would be darker. To complete the birth of the Golden Age, we need every single bit of light from every single one of us. You are a precious troubadour of light, a powerful knight. Remember who you are.

Thank you for reading Tiger Lilies.

A note: Our book, Only Love Remains, has been sent off to the literary agents for possible publication, which is why it is not on the blog any longer. If you would like a PDF copy, please email Amani at tigerlilieslife@gmail.com and he'll I'll send it to you, as soon as he gets back from Hawaii - any day now.