Wading
into the frenzy, for a moment…
I received a text message from ICE yesterday. “Holy Crap!” I thought. “I know my surname
sounds Hispanic (It’s not, it’s bastardized Danish) but is the sound of my name
‘probable cause?’ I was born a
fair-skinned baby in Glendale in ’52, went to school, held a professional career,
contributed, and own my own home…” My
thoughts raced. “I’ve got grandkids… friends…
a wife!”
I
wasn’t sure I should open the message for fear they’d figure out where I was
and come swooping in under the cover of darkness; and, you know, ask questions
later.
After
many moments of trepidation, I clicked the link open.
In my cell phone’s address book, I refer to my spouse
in three different ways: by her formal first name, by a shortened version of
that, and by an abbreviated version of “In Case of Emergency.” I.C.E.
The
content of the text regarded a copy of a message about a friend’s successful
journey in a motorhome.
Fear manifests itself when
something absolutely normal startles the poop out of somebody. Terrorists know this. Fear is a terrorist’s greatest ally.
But
fear should not be a tool in the hip pocket of a government charged, in part,
with “ensuring domestic tranquility.”
I
worry about the guys who do lawns in our neighborhood, the folks who work at
the carwash I frequent, the crew members who installed appliances in my kitchen
recently, the cook who prepared lunch for me yesterday at a local restaurant, the
families who harvest our vegetables and tend our vineyards, the gentleman who
served as my high school band director, the surgeon who completed a successful
meniscectomy on my right knee last year…
I
worry about a “domestic tranquility” that may no longer exist. Which is odd, given that as a late-middle-aged white guy, I really have very little to fear.
© 2018
The
Church of the Open Road Press
Almost like the fear of a police officer driving behind you when you know you are doing the speed limit. You aren't doing anything wrong but there is still fear.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how the hispanic folks feel after being here for so many years and being a contributing member of society to just have their government (that they pay taxes to) dismiss them and try to send them to a country they probably don't ever remember being in. It is sad. ICE has been patrolling the courthouses in Portland and there was one instance where a judge let someone out the back door to avoid them.
It's almost as if we're punishing people for the failures in our system, rather than addressing the parts of our system that need fixing.
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