2015.11.21 Opening our heart to the refugees

[rva_jeremy]

I think on a shallower level, people also want to protect their "stuff", which they see as an extension of their identity as well.

Yep. To be fair, I think most of the refugees and immigrants would want to protect their "stuff", too. There's nothing about fleeing a civil war that necessarily makes you a more enlightened, less materialistic person. To my mind that is all the more reason to extend them empathy and aid--precisely because there are all these things we have in common, and humility pretty much demands it.

I see many layers in what Q'uo says, but what it comes down to is that we our first response to others should not be fear, it should be the open heart.

Right. But what stood out to me was also Q'uo's advice on how we deal with the xenophobes: to not resist them directly. Good lord, as somebody who has spent all their adult life believing he was "fighting the power", that's a hard pill to swallow. I look to my brothers and sisters here for guidance on how to balance that, because it's not something that comes easily to me.

You mention how much people love their homes - and I wish everyone who is anti-refugee would realize how much those people really love their homes, too. They just don't want to see them blown up. They are leaving out of necessity, not because they are so excited to go to a country where they know no one and can't speak the language.

That's definitely something I would impress upon any of these xenophobes. The question is: how? That's what I struggle with. What's the key that unlocks their heart? Of course, the first step is unlocking mine, right?

Thanks Jade!