“Dozens of parents are being split from their children each day — the children labeled ‘unaccompanied minors’ and sent to government custody or foster care, the parents labeled criminals and sent to jail.
Between October 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018, at least 2,700 children have been split from their parents. 1,995 of them were separated over the last six weeks of that window — April 18 to May 31 — indicating that at present, an average of 45 children are being taken from their parents each day.”
Dara Lind dara@vox.com
(more reading at https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents)
“I was told to do so,” you will say,
“by some higher command in the chain,” — usually sourced in the seed bowl of the presidency of the country.
(There is of course still a supreme, often quoted, and almighty instance above that, but the buck of this blog stops before any deity.)
It is the duty of law enforcement, military, ambassadors, etc., to act out those commands. You could be inclined to believe that you have been absolved of any human responsibility because you are following an order from higher up.
“But, we all have a responsibility!?”
— “What responsibility?”
“To respect life.”
Maybe, most importantly, those who protect us and enforce the law and those who represent us should be allowed to let their hearts speak more often, unafraid, instead of having the shadow of the oath to the leader(s) and the country paint everything in black and white.
At this point, so that we have a common standard, I think it is appropriate that everyone reading this should (re-)acquaint themselves with the 30 basic human rights as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html)
A captain of an aircraft can exercise his right and decide in the last second if he should or shouldn’t do something, and so can each one of us.
In the last and final moment, when we are naked with our conscience, we can object and refuse. We can act differently when some clown above us makes a decision that goes against everything we as humans of the liberated world stand for.
Authoritarian superiors and leaders are frightening and inhibit our decision making. Of course, we need powerful leaders but then they too must show wisdom and compassion and act in a way appropriate to their leadership role in the 21st century AD. Expansionism and suppression might be befitting of the times of the Huns and Vikings but not today.
No one should be subjected to the whims of some lunatic, megalomanic, self-centred, self-worshipping despot and his disciples, — nowhere in the world.
As we grow up and learn to do as we are told, mostly without a second thought, because we could suffer tender consequences, we think those lessons will forever stay unquestionable.
In one part of the world, punishment is dealt to a whole nation and we think it is the oppressors G_d given right to do so. (I believed Apartheid died in 1994.)
In another part, a whole population group is expelled in the ugliest inhumane way.
– We sit and watch and comment with politically correct drivel. –
Whole countries and islands are annexed. Stadiums and airports are constructed in conditions of forced labour, — etc. etc., and the painful, abusive human saga seems endless.
Those who call a spade a spade are often silenced with a shovel.
Technology moved us ahead but humanity stayed behind unable to rid itself of its ‘conquer and destroy’ attitude.
We are on a rampage of total disregard as long as it benefits us.
And, in the ‘greatest’ country of the western world, we separate children from their parents, because of some ‘higher command’ who thinks every child is the instrument of a violent, criminal, drug trafficking mind wanting to overthrow law and order in the country.
Rulers and policymakers, with their own families, would never let such atrocities happen to their own, but have no qualm inflicting such on others in a display of robotic heartlessness and total disconnectedness of the unfolding reality.
The jewel of the western world with its brilliant minds and liberated population spoiled to the brim with endless funds allows this to happen. With uncaring, punchdrunk disinterest, probably caused by the confusion of the constant fomented vociferous fulmination from the lips of those justifying their actions, nobody seems to rise above this mess and take control.
We are so removed from all these facts that unless they bother us we don’t care and keep our head in the sand.
What totally baffles me is that this country of dreams and incredible war machines is unable to find any other solution but to tear families apart and destroy everything (including international relationships). Some bully without imagination, ethics and humanitarian values rules that roost of power-hungry, greedy, dispassionate and detached puppets who have been voted into power by a totally ignorant populous unaware of the destructive danger of their actions.
Good triumphs over evil, right?
The mind boggles, the stomach heaves, the heart breaks, eyes tear and children’s voices scream while parents wail. Those in power, from the executioners to the designers of this nightmare have become an artificial intelligence infected by a sick virus programmed by aliens from a frozen planet.
“Change, change, change.”
I do not promote insubordination but I do call upon the definition(Wikipedia):
Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying an order of one’s superior. Refusing to perform an action that is unethical or illegal is not insubordination; neither is refusing to perform an action that is not within the scope of authority of the person issuing the order.
Is it not true that: No man can separate what G_d has brought together?
Let us not become robots but remain humans with compassion and respect for each other.
