Out of the blue, one of my cousins called me about a month ago and said, “Bob, you need to read American Dirt. It is a novel about the plight of migrants seeking a better life. It fits so well with your writings.” He was right. The book spoke to me.1
As I reflected on it, I realized that many things are speaking to me during these turbulent times. Yes, I say turbulent since by my assessment too many things are happening that are detrimental to children and tear at the fabric of our society.2-6 It might be easy to just throw one’s hands up in the air and say that there is nothing to do. I understand the frustration, but I cannot accept inaction as the action of our times.7
So, I want to reflect on some “voices” that I have heard that are worth repeating and will hopefully spur us on to action. Our children deserve our best efforts on their behalf.
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins – The harrowing journey of a mother and son escaping murder and mayhem in their native Mexico, after the slaughter of their entire family, is a story of the sheer tenacity of maternal grit to lead her son to a better life. Granted, this is a work of fiction but accurately depicts what families are going through seeking a new and humane start to their lives. Too many of these families have been demonized and damned by folks failing to give them a fair chance.
- “That these people would leave their homes, their cultures, their families, even their languages, and venture into tremendous peril, risking their lives, all for the chance to get to the dream of some faraway country that doesn’t even want them.” This broke my heart, realizing that these journeys and outcomes continue today.
- “This is the one benefit of being a migrant, of having effected this disguise so completely: they are invisible. No one looks at them, and in fact, people take pains not to look at them.” By dehumanizing people seeking help, we have rendered them invisible and easily given them a subhuman status. An empathy-less approach desensitizes us and erodes our social ethos.
- “I was appalled at the way Latino migrants…were characterized at worst…as an invading mob of resource-draining criminals and, at best, a sort of helpless, impoverished, faceless brown mass, clamoring for help at out doorstep. We seldom think of them as our fellow human beings…people who can contribute to their own bright futures, and to ours, as so many generations of oft-reviled immigrants have done before.” This quote from the author’s notes challenges our nation’s current inability to adopt a rational immigration policy. American “exceptionalism” is not served by a heartless approach to an issue that one of the most diverse nations on Earth has yet to solve. Diversity is our strength, not our weakness.
Nicholas Kristof, columnist for the New York Times – Mr. Kristof addressed the current administration’s attempt to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency established back in 1961 during the Kennedy administration.8
- “The world’s richest man is boasting about destroying the United States Agency for International Development, which saves the lives of the world’s poorest children, saying he shoved it ‘into the wood chipper’… In contrast with Kennedy, the Trump administration braids together cruelty, ignorance and shortsightedness, and that combination seems particularly evident in its assault on American humanitarian assistance.” Kristof goes on to detail the misinformation/disinformation that is being used to curtail USAID efforts that have a three-fold purpose – 1) provide life-saving services to our fellow human beings; 2) provide positive diplomacy abroad; and 3) make us safer in a global world. The safety of Americans within our borders depends on others outside of our borders.
- “I’ve seen many children dying unnecessarily over the years. So, pardon my passion, but I concludemy column: ‘To billionaires in the White House, all this may seem like a game. But to anyone with a heart, it’s about children’s lives and our own security, and what’s unfolding is sickening.’” I agree. Children become the innocent pawns in these spiteful actions of those who refuse to understand or accept the consequences of what they do.
West Side Story (Broadway musical)9 – The children and their families, seeking a better life and freedom from poverty in their homeland or oppression at our southern border or elsewhere, are left wondering where that somewhere will be (that time and place) where they can go hand-in-hand together to a better life. Our job is to assist them.
- There’s a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we’re halfway there.
Hold my hand and I’ll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!
Miss Saigon (Broadway musical)10 – Unfortunately, all wars leave such scars on society, and not always by illegitimacy. Children suffer from the innocent death of siblings and parents in war. Children also suffer from fearmongering and/or the blatant witlessness of our leaders for not recognizing their desperate situation. Families that are seeking a better life should not just be labeled as a horde or a caravan but assisted to lawfully seek a reasonable solution to a better life. We should be looking for ways to alleviate pain and suffering and to elevate all of our children to a better life. The American-Asian children fathered by soldiers during the Vietnam War were hauntingly referred to as Bui Doi – the dust of life.
- They’re calledBui Doi/The Dust of Life/Conceived in Hell/And born in strife. They are the living reminders of/all the good we failed to do. We can’t forget/We must not forget/That they are all/Our children too. After all, the children of the world are “all our children too.” And when we neglect our children, we have to live with the reality that their suffering is the living reminder of all the good that we failed to do.
There are countless other quotes that I could use to emphasize my point that action, not inaction, is necessary during times when children and families are pushed to the side and not truly valued. I use these quotes to remind me (and hopefully stir my readers) about our constant requirement to do all that we can and not be deterred. We will not be silent, and our efforts will not be diminished as we seek to enhance the lives of all children.
- Cummins J. American Dirt. Flatiron Books; 2020. 400 pp.
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/loathing-it-works-but-it-shouldnt/
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/freedom-and-children/
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/welfare-is-not-a-dirty-word/
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/areas-of-moral-clarity/
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/does-racism-still-exist-in-america/
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/the-crippling-cost-of-inaction/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/opinion/usaid-spending-trump-musk.html?smid=url-share
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/somewhere-3/
- https://mychildrenschildren.com/bui-doi-they-are-all-our-children-too-2/