Gleaning Facebook: Andy On the Homeless AND Refugees

 Andy Offutt Irwin is not only a wonderful and hilarious storyteller, he is also a thoughtful and principled person. He expressed my thoughts better than me today on his Facebook...

This morning I saw a meme on Facebook that read, "I WISH SOME OF YOU CARED ABOUT HOMELESS VETERANS... AS MUCH AS YOU DO ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES."

These words were mounted on a photograph of a veteran slumped on a park bench. He is obviously cold within his camo jacket, his capped head in his hands. A worn backpack at his side. He is the pitiful being on the streets whose gaze we avert.

But the either/or, two-dimensional condemnation of this meme gets under my skin. Somebody took the time to surf around the clip art sites, pick a font, type the words, and reduce this man's image to something that "could go viral." ("LIKE IF YOU AGREE!!!")

I have no way of knowing if the person who created this social media finger-wagger has ever volunteered at a homeless shelter. But I can tell you this: the majority of folks who do stay up all night to help to feed and shelter the poor and homeless in inner city church basements and repurposed bus stations, the people most likely to boldly make their way into abandoned buildings to help lift up the most damaged and forgotten of the "least of these my brethren," the people who possess the compassion (and risk the heartache to nurture that compassion) to dirty their hands on the blood and literal shit that accompanies such work, those are some of the same people who are going to go home, shower, take markers to poster board, and head to the airport so we won't have to dismantle the Statue of Liberty.

- Andy Offutt Irwin

Gleaning Facebook: Refugees

 I have many friends who disagree strongly about the issue of our very modest acceptance of a mere 10,000 refugees from Syria. Our refugee program has been very careful and these mostly women and children have been carefully vetted. Many, many more have applied than have been accepted.

Is it perfect? Of course it cannot be: it is run by human beings. But it is the right thing to help these people, for their sake, and for the message our help gives to the world: we will not be terrorized.

A stated goal of the terrorists is to push non-Muslims to react cruelly and fearfully toward, not just terrorists, but all Muslims, which in turn will push more Muslims toward the extremists. That is fact.

I love my family and friends who are pushing for ending acceptance of refugees, I have no doubt of their good intentions or sincerity, but they are wrong, and I am convinced to my toes: Those who react to terror as many have, including most Republican governors and presidential candidates, are unwitting allies of ISIS when they allow themselves to be terrorized into forsaking these refugees.