In history, when have waves of people invaded the land and changed the ways of the people that were there? Give up? Recently I read a novel that was written from the point of view of the Native Americans when waves of emigrants were traveling west through their land. While reading it, I had an ah-ha moment. I saw a parallel to our present day issues.

In the novel there were two points of view represented. One was the chief who fought with all his might to keep the emigrants out or deter their progress through violence, mistrust and anger. He villainized them to his people and they responded with violence. The other point of view was a chief who saw the big picture. He saw that if one emigrant was killed, ten more would come and take their place. So his choice was to work with the emigrants and get the best deal to preserve his people and their way of life. Consequently, his tribe still has valuable land rights and his ancestors live on while the former tribe was exterminated.

So the parallel is to the pending changes that I see in the US today. We can choose to villainize the immigrants on our Southern border, use our tax dollars to put up razor wire, build walls and inspire further hostility or we can think outside of the box. We can try to understand their needs and push to create an expedited protocol for them to assimilate and help us with our needs. We can remember that we are a nation of immigrants who came here for the freedom of worshipping God. We can remember that we are all foreigners in this land. We can take a path of love and its inspiration of creative problem solving or we can villainize and turn to hate and exclusion.

I realize that this is an oversimplification of all the issues. I realize that the obstacles are complex, numerous and scary. However, I believe that if our over-arching attitude will change to offense rather than defense, we can use our American ingenuity to create innovative solutions. Innovation doesn’t happen in an atmosphere of fear, hatred and resistance.

We, as Americans, have a choice to act on the love of Christ, think of ways to make this inevitable future work for our children and grand children or go the path of hatred and resistance and its destruction. We need to get off of that bandwagon of fear and support those who propose changes for the better. We are better than this.