#because someone hit the 250 post limit at 4 in the morning

[dreamyprinx]

y’all aren’t ready for tomorrows (technically todays) post

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 1, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

This morning, conservative pundit William Kristol wrote in The Bulwark what a number of us have been saying for a while now, and it dovetails cleanly with the current Republican attempt to suppress voting.

Kristol warns that our democracy is in crisis. For the first time in our history, we have failed to have a peaceful transfer of power. The Republican Party launched a coup—which fortunately failed—and “now claims that the current administration is illegitimately elected, the result of massive, coordinated fraud. The logical extension of this position would seem to be that the American constitutional order deserving of our allegiance no longer exists.”

“So,” he notes, “we are at the edge of crisis, having repulsed one attempted authoritarian power grab and bracing for another.”

Claims that American democracy is on the ropes in the face of an authoritarian power grab raise accusations of partisanship… but in this case, the person making the claim is a conservative, who goes on to urge conservatives to join behind President Joe Biden to try to save democracy. Kristol warns that “a dangerous, anti-democratic faction” of the Republican Party “is not committed in any serious way to the truth, the rule of law, or the basic foundations of our liberal democracy.”

Kristol’s call is notable both because of his position on the right and because he warns that we are absolutely not in a moment of business-as-usual. Perhaps because it is impossible to imagine, we seem largely to have normalized that the former president of the United States refused to accept his loss in the 2020 election and enlisted a mob to try to overturn the results. Along with his supporters, he continues to insist that he won that election and that President Joe Biden is an illegitimate usurper.

This big lie threatens the survival of our democracy.

At the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference this weekend in Orlando, Florida, Trump supporters doubled down on the lie that Biden stole the 2020 election. From a stage shaped like a piece of Nazi insignia, speakers raged that they were victims of “cancel culture” on the part of Big Tech and the left, which are allegedly trying to silence them. To restore fairness, they want to stop “voter fraud” and restore “election integrity,” and they want to force social media giants to let them say whatever they want on social media.

In the Washington Post, commentator Jennifer Rubin said the modern conservatives at CPAC had no policy but revenge, “resentment, cult worship and racism,” and no political goal but voter suppression. It is “the only means by which they seek to capture power in an increasingly diverse America,” she notes. A poll showed that “election integrity” was the issue most important to CPAC attendees, with 62% of them choosing it over “constitutional rights” (which got only 48%).

Trump himself packaged this lie in words that sounded much like the things he said before the January 6 insurrection. He claimed that he had won the election, that the election was “rigged,” and that it was “undeniable” that the rules of the election were “illegally changed”—although none of his many court challenges stuck. He attacked the Supreme Court in language that echoed the attacks on his vice president, Mike Pence, that had rioters searching him out to kill him. “They didn’t have the guts or the courage to make the right decision,” Trump said of the justices.

The purpose of this big lie is not only to reinforce Trump’s hold on the Republican Party, but also to delegitimize the Democratic victory. If Democrats cheat, it makes sense to prevent “voter fraud” by making it harder to vote. “We must pass comprehensive election reforms, and we must do it now,” Trump said.

Republican reforms, though, mean voter suppression. Currently, Republican legislators in 43 states have introduced more than 250 bills to restrict voting. They want to cut back early voting and restrict mail-in voting, limit citizen-led ballot initiatives, and continue to gerrymander congressional districts. Arizona is trying to make it possible for state legislatures, rather than voters, to choose the state’s presidential electors. Rather than try to draw voters to their party’s candidates by moderating their stances, they are trying to win power by keeping people from voting.

I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous this is. We have gone down this road before in America, in the South after 1876. The outcome was the end of democracy in the region and the establishment of a single, dominant party for generations. In those decades, a small body of men ruled their region without oversight and openly mocked the idea of justice before the law. A member of the jury that took only 67 minutes to acquit Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 famously said, “We wouldn’t have taken so long if we hadn’t stopped to drink pop.” White men dominated women and their Black and Brown neighbors, but their gains were largely psychological, as the one-party system created instability that slowed down economic investment, while leaders ignored education and infrastructure.

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a lawsuit concerning Arizona election laws. The case is from 2016, when Democrats argued that two Arizona voting laws discriminated against Hispanic, Black, and Indigenous voters in violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits laws that hamper voting on the basis of race. The laws called for ballots cast in the wrong precinct to be thrown away and allowed only election officials, letter carriers, household family members, or caregivers to return someone else’s mail-in ballot. A violation could bring a $150,000 fine. The court’s decision in this case will have big implications for the legitimacy of the restrictions Republican legislatures are trying to enact now.

Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to shore up voting rights with H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021. This sweeping measure would make it easier to vote, curtail gerrymandering, make elections more secure, and reform the campaign finance system.

They are also proposing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, H.R. 4, which would restore the parts of the Voting Rights Act the Supreme Court gutted in 2013 in the Shelby v. Holder decision, limiting changes to election laws that disproportionately affect people of color. After Shelby v. Holder, a number of states immediately enacted sweeping voter suppression laws that disproportionately hit minorities, the elderly, and the young, all populations perceived to vote Democratic.

Neither of these bills will pass the Senate unless the Democrats modify the filibuster rule, which permits Republicans to stop legislation unless it can muster not just a majority, but a supermajority of 60 votes.

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favor of Judge Merrick Garland for Attorney General. Garland is noted for supervising the prosecution of the men who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995, hoping to topple the federal government. In his opening remarks to the Senate Judiciary committee last week, Garland vowed that, if confirmed, he “will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6—a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government.” He promised that he would follow where the investigation led, even if it went “upstream” to those who might not have been in the Capitol, but who nevertheless were participants in the insurrection.

The vote to move Garland’s nomination to the full Senate was 15 to 7, with Ben Sasse (R-NE), Mike Lee (R-UT), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tom Cotton (R-AR), John Kennedy (R-LA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) all voting no.

With the exception of Sasse, all those voting no have signed on to the big lie.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[thoughtremixer]

Your Selfies Didn’t Flop

“My selfies flopped”...

Let me break it down for y’all... Your selfies didn’t flop. The problem is that it’s a numbers game. There are a few factors that contributed to low numbers.

Tumblr System Limits

First off, there are limits within the Tumblr system. They will not display every possible selfie, even when you go to "recent”. It’s like... they will only allow the first 250 posts on mobile and maybe a few hundred more from a desktop device.

And to show you guys this...

Some of the selfies I reblogged succeed (got more than 30 notes). They posted them early in the morning and I decided to save them until this morning. And they managed to get some love.

Which now goes into...

Timing of your posts

You make a post during prime time? It’s not going to get as much love.

If you post your pictures at the same time as everyone else, it will get overlooked.

The third thing to keep in mind is... you guessed it... 

Influencers

... the type of person to reblog.

I reblogged people and they got 40+ notes because I’m an influencer. 

I told someone who NEVER posted pictures out of fear of a low count to post up and I’ll show them they can get at least 20. They got double.

However, there is one other thing that can help.

Style of photo/variety/story

Let’s face it... people want you to be at least a little creative with your photos. Sure, we have to address certain problems as colorism, but if your photo is boring, it may not get picked up as quickly. 

Most people that get reblogs have a story behind it. And stories are powerful.

However, even if you have various styles, and managed to hit the story angle, there’s still one more element.

Luck

So, if you got a low number... it’s mostly because of tech limits, timing, the numbers game and luck. Sadly, this isn’t something we have control over.

Don’t let this get you down. Instead of aiming for a “100+ notes”, lower your expectations a bit. I think a “successful” post is one that can reach over 25. If you get over 100, that’s fantastic! And over 500+? You’re on the ball!

And if you think I’m saying things to make you feel better and “hey you’re a co-creator. You probably have gotten a lot of love”... let me reassured you.

I only got 15 notes on my Blackout posts. My blog is over 28K+ followers and the posts I boosted that have 2 or 3 notes managed to get over 40 at the very least. So trust me... as a man who knows how viral posts work, I KNOW what I’m talking about!

So... take it from me. Don’t aim for 100 notes, especially if you never saw 100+ daily. Aim for a low number. You’ll be happy to reach it and presently surprise if you get more than ever!

Also, think about it this way... every time you post up something in the tag, it makes the tag more visible. And when it’s trending, it’s a hot topic. You also get to view other people who can inspire you, make you proud of your blackness.

And isn’t that what it’s all about? For me, it’s personally pissing off people who say “Black people get hypervisibility” and at least for four days out of the year...

... they get to know what we get to see every day of our lives. 4 days won’t hurt them.

[topicprinter]

The headline is more to grab your attention than to brag because the rest of this post is not going to be nearly as sexy. I wanted to write this post for people who are struggling to make their first $1,000 or $5,000 - I want to give you an inside look to how I did this, not overnight, but what the ugly, drawn-out process looked like for me.There's no get-rich-quick tips here. There's no "hacks." No "shortcuts." I'm a very unlucky person who feels very lucky to be able to make this amount from my laptop at home while dealing with my endless medical issues.Background information about the business:Name/URL: It's my username. I probably don't even show up on Google - also, I don't have social media outside of Reddit so there isn't much to look at. P.S. Not a self-promo, I'm booked out and not looking for more work.Type of business: "Virtual assistance" - basically, if someone needs an extra hand to do it in their business, I probably do it. My limitations are code/development and design. I am horrendous in those areas.Business model: People pay me a flat fee of $1000/month to be their virtual assistant for a flat fee of $600/month to write 4 pieces of content for them (email or blog only). Note: I don't do hourly fees because I work quickly. I am not going to work for $15 because I did it in 1 hour when someone would do the same work in 2 hours and make $30? When I break it down (I track my hours using Toggl) it's roughly $45-$100/hour per client, monthly.Open since: Officially? August 2019. When I started virtual assistance? 2010 - which leads me to the rest of this post.Tidbit about me for context:I'm in my super late 20's.Single mom, 2 young kids - one isn't in school yet.Clinically diagnosed schizo-bipolar, BPD, and PTSD - this is important because I believe this is why it took me so long to get here.College dropout with 1.4 GPA. (Criminal Justice)Only "legitimate" job was USMC, of which I only did 1 term as a glorified dispatcher.Based in the USA. I don't live in a huge city and rent for 3 bedrooms is $900 where I live, to give you context about my choices for pricing.Starting Expenses:MacBook Air: $800 (bought it on Black Friday in 2016, returned by original buyer)Mouse: $20iPhone 6s: $650 (bought it in 2016, completely paid off)Squarespace Domain: $20/yearSquarespace Business hosting + SSL certificate: $216Logo: $29 (hired a friend to do it)Canva for Business: $12.95/monthLLC set-up + misc. legal stuff: $150 (used ZenBusiness - no affiliation)Upwork: $5? Maybe? (You have to pay to bid on jobs)How I Hit $5,000/Month + All The Mistakes Made:I didn't really know what a virtual assistant was or how long I had been doing it. I was roughly 18-19 years old, homeless (couch surfing), and needed money fast.I looked at Craigslist's "odd jobs." Found a job from a now popular porn site that paid people $35/hour with a $250 bonus, to label like 800 porn videos in 1 week. I was making about $1,000/week doing this but being young and naive, spent it all at once thinking that this money would always be there.Then they outsourced to India and every American lost their job.Mistake #1: I put all my eggs in one basket.From here, I continued to make this mistake. I made a good amount off of Fiverr, only to get my account closed because a client complained about something I don't recall doing (I rather not call her a liar). If it's on r/WorkOnline and doesn't require a degree, I've probably been there, done that, and continued to put all my eggs in one basket until I burned myself out.Mistake #2: Lack of self-care/sleep because I wanted to "grind/hustle" = Burn out = Declining mental health = Poor sleep habits = Poor eating habits = Poor hygiene habits = Health problems = etc.This phase of my life was a blur, but a very important blur because here, I was trial and error-ing different things I could do. I was blogging. I was messing around on Twitter with tools like HootSuite and MeetEdgar. I made websites on Wordpress and Wix and Blogger. I took $5/hour r/slavelabour-style jobs because it's all I was qualified to do.If I didn't know how to do it, I didn't let the client know. I Googled and spent hours on the forgotten corners of internet forums and Reddit, hoping to find the answer to a hopeless problem.I didn't sleep much or slept too much. My mental health went ignored. I literally started hallucinating and having meltdowns, which eventually led to my divorce, which will be more relevant later on.Mistake #3: I widely underestimated what people were willing to throw money at.Eventually, I learned what a "virtual assistant" was and called myself that. I also learned that a lot of people will pay you to do simple things they can't be arsed to do themselves - like upload a blog post, write an email, or do customer support. Or label porn.Think of a virtual assistant as a virtual "nanny" or "nurse" who does everything for the business/entrepreneur so the business/entrepreneur can focus on making money.(You're probably wondering where I found my clients. Upwork. Craigslist. Seriously.)By this time, I was making about $1,000/month - which is barely enough to live on. I apply for food stamps to eat, at this point.I slogged like this for a few more years, until my ex-husband had a mid-life crisis. He kicked me and the kids out.Mistake #4: Being comfortable. Not having a savings/emergency fund.My credit score sucks due to poor money decisions (don't worry, I'm subscribed to r/personalfinance and r/leanfire now to learn money handling skills) so I couldn't take out a loan to move. My Discord friends and 3 IRL friends (I don't have family, it's just me) loaned me about $500 altogether. I told all of my clients what was happening - partially so they could find a replacement or expect me to go MIA.To my surprise, ALL OF THEM, immediately asked, "How can I help?" One of my clients gave me a $500 advance on our retainer and contracted me to set up a Squarespace website for another $500. Another client put together a PDF of resources for single mothers and government assistance.I spent every penny I made as a virtual assistant, on this move.There is something life shaking about being homeless and alone (which I was when I started this journey). There's something terrifying about the idea of being homeless and alone - especially when children are involved.This is the turning point that lit a fire under my ass.I set a goal to hit $5,000/month by December 2019 - 3 virtual assistance clients at $1,000/month a pop and 4 writing clients at $600/month. I also take side projects that are non-retainer.Problem? I was very fucking alone.Mistake #5: Underestimating the power of people. Being a dick. Thinking I knew better. Shitting on coaches and guru's that I've never met.Here was my strategy, since I don't have friends, ad spend money, or time:Think of all current clients and clients from the last 6 months who have money and never had issues paying me. Pitch them the $1000/month idea. (Only one, of 10, converted, BUT THAT'S 1/3 SECURED).Make Facebook accountJoin 20 Facebook groups per day. Filter them. Add the top 10 (engagement and where my potential clients are) pinned to shortcuts.Add 500 friends/day who are potential leads.Make a website with a landing page for my business.Make people laugh. (Yeah, seriously. Entrepreneurship is so stuffy and stuck up sometimes, I needed a way to catch people's attention).Help people and don't pitch. (Because it's 2019 and everyone is pitching and when you don't pitch, people wonder who the hell you are and look at your profile, where you can conveniently leave your URL)My flat fee is $1,000/month. I will not take a dollar less. It's $500 upfront to secure me and I do not work until the next 2 weeks ($500/biweekly) is paid in full. I cannot chase non-paying clients.I don't have a "page" by the way. This is all my personal account. I did this religiously for 2 weeks and posted a lot of business-related memes. I shared stories about labeling porn. People laughed and told me they really liked my "energy." They felt safe.I went into Facebook groups and answered peoples questions and calmed them down when they had business issues. "My email marketing tool is not sending out my broadcasts" "I am not reaching over 10% open rate in my emails." All those years of Googling and slogging away paid off.Where do coaches and gurus come in? They have an audience. I learned that they are not necessarily going to make you rich but they are a pay to play model. I joined some girl-power group led by a guru ($15/month) and bought myself into her audience. I told her straight up, "Look, I'm trying to book out and this is what I do. Here's my website." She blasted my info to her audience. I ate a slice of humble pie and stopped doing the shit-on-coaches crap.My funny memes? People shared them.Every time someone offered "free coaching calls" I took them up on it. I wrote glowing reviews, which they SHARED. For the last month, people in these circles constantly saw my name and face. If these coaches and gurus with thousands of followers were vouching for me, I am trustworthy, and if I am trustworthy, my website is worth looking at.The rest was a waiting game. If people emailed me, I emailed back within 6 hours. If they inquired about me on Facebook messenger, I messaged back the same day.People booked calls with me and talked to me. I had to talk to a lot of people before someone finally said yes, but who the fuck cares. THEY SAID YES.This weekend, I booked out. I had to decline two people this morning because I just don't have time for more clients. I put them on a waitlist. But now I've secured $5,000/month minimum on retainer clients and I'm building my waitlist.Also, paid all my friends back.But, this brings me to my latest mistake:Mistake #6: No source of passive income and capping income.I've capped myself at $5,000/month :( So... what the hell do I do now?I'm going to create a source of passive income which I won't talk about here so it doesn't become a pitch. I'll attempt to scale it to $5,000/month. After that, I'm going to convert my virtual assistance clients to digital marketing clients and work on commission so my income ceiling is higher. I've never made more than $5,000/month so I don't know what I don't know and I intend to continue making mistakes along the way.Also, this subreddit hates coaches, but the majority of my clients are coaches. Best part? They have money. I plan on hiring one who offered me a very valuable free coaching call a few weeks ago.TL;DR:I spent a lot of time learning random skill sets and then learned people will hire me for the skill set. Spent years doubting myself and undercharging. Ex kicked me and the kids out. I panicked. Set up a website. Mass networked on Facebook. Did a shit-ton of free calls to get free business tips from guru's. Bought into low-entry groups for more visibility. Made people laugh. Did even more shit-tons of "discovery calls" for potential clients. Answered a lot of emails and inquiries. Asked. For. Help.And there you have it. None of this was glamorous or sexy, and I took almost a decade to get to $5,000/month but every journey starts somewhere, right?Hope this was helpful to someone out there. Have a good one.

[delectablyweepingnightmare-blog]

Life, Liberty, and Migrants

New Post has been published on http://eduandlearning.tk/2017/06/19/life-liberty-and-migrants/

Life, Liberty, and Migrants

Being a missionary in an impoverished and gang controlled area of ​​Guatemala, some of our friends have started asking for our perspective in the newly popular media trend of talking about children from Guatemala that are illegally entering the United States. I'm wondering why it has taken so long for people to start noticing! Since God called us here 3 years ago, we have been trying to tell others of the extreme poverty crisis here in Guatemala that causes Guatemalans to risk everything for the chance of living in the United States, if only to send a few dollars back for the Rest of their family.

For those of you who did not happen to see our initial presentation weave at various churches in 2012 as we prepared to come down here, I will directly quote the stats we gave as evidence of the ongoing problem:

If we can get communities to the point where people are happy to live in them, they will not be flocking to the US illegally, further draining our resources. The 2000 US census counted 480,665 foreigners born from Guatemala, but the International Migration data suggest that approximately one million Guatemalans now live in the United States. Although the International Organization for Migration estimates that there are 200,000 undocumented Guatemalans living in the US, some civil society organizations believe the actual figure is higher. They also estimate that between 6,000 and 12,000 new Guatemalan immigrants arrive in the United States via Mexico each year. Why would Guatemalans want to move into the United States? More than half of the population is below the national poverty line and 15% lives in extreme poverty. 43% of children under five are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world. 42 / 1,000 children die before the age of five, the highest mortality rate in the hemisphere after Haiti and Bolivia.To put that in a little more of a personal comparison, as of 2004, Guatemala has 56.2% of the population below the poverty line As opposed to only 15.1% in the United States.

The numbers have gotten worse. I'm sure by now everyone who pays attention to the news in the US has been inundated with statistics, pie charts, and reviews of past, present, and future policy change that is related to all of this. I do not plan to pick apart certain news clips or debunk certain theories that have been developed and reiterated. I want to give a perspective not just as someone who is here "on the ground" working with some of the very kids that are migrating to the US, but as one who has been purposed to come here and help prevent it.

God's vision for us here in Guatemala is simply simple and difficult: to help strengthen the local church so it can grow as a fountain of hope and God's power for those in its surrounding community. It frustrates me that it took finding a couple dead children in the desert on the border of the US for people to start paying attention to this issue. Sadly, though, not many people are asking the right questions. The question is not, "how do we prevent people from entering our borders," rather it should be, "how can we help these countries better serve their people so they are happy to live in their own country?"

Being a Marine Corps Veteran who was sent to fight a war on foreign soil and one who believes in the right to pursue freedom from oppression, I wonder if we ever really stop to think about the ideals of our founding fathers. America has been long touted as the "Land of Opportunity," the United States of America was founded upon the backs of migrant workers who appreciated the value of hard work, strong family principles, and the desire to serve our Creator in a way that pleases Him as our Father. The US has grown lazy and the American dream is slowly dying because we have more than we could ever dream for and refuse to share it with anyone else. We know this does not apply to everyone; There are many people who are aware of the struggles of the rest of the world and who serve in whatever way God has called them to help alleviate this suffering. This is not to say nobody is doing anything, but to highlight that per capita and in comparison with how much we do have as a country, we could be doing a whole lot more. There are still many in the US who are literally drowning in the river of dreams Billy Joel sang about and are trying to keep everyone else out. I know this looks like I may have strayed off point, but I offer this as a comparison to what my wife and I witness here in Guatemala.

Education is valued as a luxurious commodity in Guatemala. Families know the importance of being able to send their children to school, but the difficulty is in being able to afford to send them. There are public schools available but the quality is extremely low. This is not to say the teachers do not do their best, but schools are underfunded and under supported. One of the local schools we worked with in the past year receives about 5,000 Guatemalan Quetzales (about $ 640) per YEAR for whatever needs they have. Other than having their electric and water bills paid for by the local government, the school director must constantly ask the parents of the students to donate time and money in order to support teacher salies, school supplies, and improvements to the buildings. All students attend classes part-time because there are more children than space in the schools. Primary school students attend for only 4 hours a day. One class attests in the morning while the other in the afternoon. Middle and high school students attend school once a week and have to do the majority of their learning at home on their own. There are some private schools available in each area, but these are only available if families can afford to pay about $ 300 per child each year ($ 250 of which is due at the beginning of the school year). The public schools, since they receive less funding, are also more privy to gang control. One school near the church we work in has received threats to the security of the staff if the parents of the students do not collectively pay an extortion demand. The police are working to resolve this issue, but the threat remains.

Most families can not afford to pay for their own rent and food, so instead of children completing their high school education the children find jobs at a young age in order to help their parents sustain the family. They know that getting a better education will result in a better job, but it is difficult to stay in school when your family is starving to death. Not only does not attending school alleviate the costs of attendance, but it also makes a family member available to work, when they can find it. So, families are faced with a difficult decision: who has the best potential to succeed in school and who should we keep out of school to work so we can eat? In the United States, we have taken for granted the "no child left behind" directive that ensures all children get an equal education. Guatemalan children are lucky if they get an education at all.

The gang situation in Guatemala is rampant. Most families have been abandoned in one way or another by the father figure. Either they have left the family because they could not handle the responsibility, they have moved somewhere far away to secure a better work opportunity to support the family, or they have been killed for not succumbing to the demands of a ruling gang. This opens the door for young men and women to not be properly guided and need to make very hard life decisions at an early age. Aside from the education issue, they are confronted with the opportunity to join a gang so they can keep their family safe while making enough money to sustain them all. One of the laws in Guatemala is that at the age of 18, any criminal history you have is wiped clean without question. As a result, boys under the age of 18 are registered as hitmen because they know they get a clean slate in just a few years. I recently had someone ask me if we live in a "dangerous" area of ​​the country. In Guatemala, the sections of each city is divided into "zones" and are assigned colors of red, orange, or yellow to signify the level of danger as indicated by gang activity. Guatemalans laugh at this system as the entire country is practically red and the only areas that are not place where nobody really lives or are not connected with the rest of Guatemalan society (Ie Indigenous Mayan tribes who have avoided contact with outsiders). While actual violence is mostly limited to the interchange of gunfire between warring gangs, armed robbery and theft has become an accepted element of living in Guatemala.

Despite the extreme poverty in Guatemala it amazes me to see how it has affected everyone for the good. If someone is given two tortillas, they share one with their neighbor. If there is a donation of clothing, the community tries to bless as many as possible instead of everyone fighting to get as much as possible. If someone is given an abundance past their immediate necessity, they find someone else to what they can give the extra. Our boss always says, "you can not out-give a Guatemalan," referring to the abundant generosity and concern for the whole instead of the individual. This is how the majority of the Guatemalans we know and work with survive. The problem is there is never enough to go around, so someone always misses out. Even our poor and homeless in the US have shelter, clothing and food.

Two sad stories hit us "close to home" in our ministry in regards to Guatemalan migration to the United States. One 17 year old boy, a senior in high school, disappeared over the last year from our church. He was the drummer of the church's worship team and after he did not show up for a couple of weeks, I asked the pastor if he was OK. "Well, it turns out that his father who is in the US illegally convinced him to go work with him in San Diego." I was dumbfounded. In a country full of poverty, this kid literally had everything going for him. His dad, who lives in a garage with a few other illegals and works as a mechanic, told his son that he would be able to finish his high school education and flourish in the US while helping him work to send more money back to the States . We heard nothing of the boy for months until finally the boy's mother told the pastor that he had arrived safely in the US His father had paid the coyote extra to ensure the safety of his son and they had been hiding in the desert waiting for safe passage . An admirable gesture, but why would the boy and the father go along with it? Coyotes can not be trusted, nor can the Mexican cartels and if caught by border control, he would have been sent back to where he came from. That $ 500 could have supported the whole family for 3-6 months.

Another story is of a woman known by the church we are working with; She lives a few hours away. Her husband has been in the US for quite some time and she wanted to go to be with him and help him earn more money for their children. For an entire year, she saved up money by eating as little as possible and keeping her children out of school. During her trip guided by the coyote she paid, she and her traveling companions were taken hostage and a bounty was requested to be paid. Her village collected the necessary money to pay for her release and she was sent back to the town she came from. Now she is paying off her debt to those who paid for her freedom and the children are missing another year of school.

We hear these stories and first question, "why would someone ever do something so ridiculous?" Unfortunately, the people here in Guatemala do not have the luxury of recognizing these actions as ridiculous. These actions are actually done out of love and the pursuit of survival and opportunity. They are not even really pursuing happiness, they are just trying to make sure their kids have a better life than they did, even if that means they will be able to read and write and have at least one meal a day. Our ignorance as Americans goes far beyond understanding what it means to be poor or underuced. It reaches into the depths of our own depravity of recognizing from where we've come as a people and society. When my wife and I were preparing to come to Guatemala two years ago, we sometimes got the question, "why would you go to another country and help people when we have needs here in the US?" I have a plethora of answers to that question now and a handful of stories to tell you about those same people who still refuse to be a part of the solution but expect us to be the actors of everyone's desires and ideas. The answer I offer today, however, is that the people who have the grave needs in the US have come from the country we are now serving in. We complain about the influx of poor and hungry immigrants into the "land of opportunity" but balk at the idea of ​​meeting them where they are so they can create their own land of opportunity.

I have an evolving understanding of the word "poverty" which is: the result of one's environment failing them. I have and continue to read various books on poverty, written a college thesis about it (and it's elevation), and continue to involve myself in discussions over physical, emotional, and spiritual depravity which all point to this simple principle. As humans, our basic needs when not met create an emptiness in our lives that cause us to strive to fill those needs. Some do it with drugs, others with violence, some with sex, yet others by shutting themselves off from the rest of the world. As our depravity grows and our needs continue to go unmet, we work harder to create that equilibrium. Occasionally, this depravity grows strong enough to motivate us to pay someone to load our 5 year old on a bus and drive across some of the most dangerous gang controlled territories in the world for the hopes that at least they will get clothing, shelter, and A full belly all the while sacrificing ourselves to make it happen. Yes, they could have been sold and sold into the sex trade. Yes, they could die of starvation or dehydration in the desert. Yes, I will probably never see them again. But it is worth the risk because life here is not any good either.

On the Statue of Liberty overlooking the New York Harbor which was intended to be a symbol of welcome reprieve from a tumultuous world, is a tablet engraved with a poem by Emma Lazarus that is meant to signify the value represented by it:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates will stand

A mighty woman with a torch, who flame

Is the hospitalized lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; Her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" Priest she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearing to breathe free,

The wretched refusal of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tot to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door! "

Even more important is what Jesus says in Matthew 25 about His imminent return and impending response about how we treat the least of society:

34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35' For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to Eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came To Me. ' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 'And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 'When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; Naked, and you did not clothe Me; Sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me. ' 44 "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

So instead of worrying ourselves with politicking about the legality of foreign children bussed in with the hope of a better life, maybe we should focus on why they are coming in the first place. Instead of cursing the ever growing "illegal immigration" problem, maybe we should remember that this country was born by the hard work of "illegal immigrants" and fertilized in everyone's self-evident truths: that all men are Created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (Copied from our US Declaration of Independence) Instead of fighting wars on foreign soil to secure better stock rates and fuel prices, perhaps we should fight for the freedom of those who otherwise are left hopeless and helpless not the oppressed by tyrants but the insufficiency reliability of Their surroundings. Instead of thinking "mine, mine, mine," maybe we should think, "yours, yours, yours," because what we have is not ours to keep; It is a gift from God He has given us with which He wants us to bless others. Instead relying on skewed news reports and opinions of people who have never visited the squatter's villages of Guatemala, maybe we can look for ways to be a part of the solution.

In America we talk of freedom as a commodity that we deserve, not something we are blessed to have. Yet, if we truly understand the depth of the freedom we possess, we would be gladly sharing it with all and working to make sure all are truly free. From the freedom that was obtained by our early settlers to the freedom that Jesus Christ offers us, our understanding of freedom is revealed in our willingness to share it with others and secure it for those who might not even recognize it is an option.

Source by Dylan Brobst