#1247 – Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg: Has the United Nations Become Irrelevant?

A recent note came from my long-time and very valued friend, Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg. His message was succinct. “I have recently had an invited essay published by the E-International Relations, Has the United Nations Become Irrelevant? I think that you will find it of interest, and will welcome any comments you care to make on it. You may access the essay here.”

His essay is passed along with his permission.

Dr. Schwartzberg is a long-time, very valued friend. He is an internationally known and highly respected thinker and commentator on the United Nations System.

His book “Transforming the United Nations System Designs for a Workable World” is very interesting and readable. You can read more about the book, and order it here (click on “THE BOOK”).

#1246 – Dick Bernard: Life and Death

As I write this post, decision time was at hand in the U.S. House of Representatives to replace what was derisively called “Obamacare” (The Affordable Care Act of 2010). Mid-paragraph came a bulletin that the first move to replacement, the American Health Care Act, failed. The apparent objective had been to figuratively kill “Obamacare” on the 7th anniversary of its enactment, Mar 23, 2010.

A good commentary about the lack of action on March 23, can be viewed here. Visit the same source tomorrow for a digest of comments about what happened today. [Mar. 24, “A Fine Failure”, here. SNIP: “The process toward passing Obamacare began on March 5, 2009, when President Obama convened a “health summit” with various players in the health care industry. It finished 383 days later, on March 23, 2010, when he signed it into law.

Trumpcare began life on February 16, 2017, when Paul Ryan released an outline of what a Republican bill would look like. It was abandoned 36 days later, on March 24, 2017.” from Kevin Drum, here.]

Personally, I view this issue of Health care for all (or some) from these vantage points:
1) My wife and I are greatly privileged to have pensions, Medicare, supplemental and long term care insurance. I would guess we are similar to those folks in Congress who sit in judgement of people with less resources.

That’s where the “Life and Death” title to this post originates. The objective of the supposed replacement bill (my opinion) was to make national health insurance less accessible and affordable, thence to enable another round of huge tax cuts whose primary beneficiaries will be the already very wealthy.

2) The practical reality of the future of Health Care for all lies with the very people who gave a win to the Republicans in the last election; and make no mistake, this is strictly a Republican initiative – look at the votes. Salespeople are good at selling dreams. But as an old saying from my childhood goes “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. As a society we have to do better at informing ourselves about the consequences of our own actions (or inactions).

Unfortunately, often we get exactly what we deserve.

3) Personally, today, as stated above, we sit here in pretty good shape, if medical need happens.

Everybody should have the same privilege in this hugely wealthy country that is the United States (I would extend that to everyone on our planet, but that’s for another time.)

As this debate goes on I remember a distinct time in my own history:

In September of 1963 I was discharged from the Army, and by early October was teaching school in Minnesota. My recent bride was also teaching.

I don’t recall the exact sequence, but at one point the insurance agent for Blue Cross/Blue Shield came by, and I opted for the doctor plan (Blue Shield) and passed on Blue Cross – too expensive. In the Army, everything was covered.

At about the same time my very young wife had to quit teaching because her health had seriously deteriorated. The ultimate diagnosis was kidney problems, and she died two years later.

We had no hospital insurance, and even if we had, at that point in history, her ailment would have been a pre-existing condition, and disqualified her from coverage.

In the end, in October of 1965, I was saved from bankruptcy only by a County Welfare Board in North Dakota, which paid the greatest share of the bills (which amounted to about four times my then yearly salary.) Other hospitals and clinics basically dealt with us as charity cases. Even welfare was no certainty. In those two years we never technically became a resident of any County or State. We moved too frequently to reach the one-year threshold….

In our circumstances then (which I described recently as trodding through a blizzard), we had only survival on our minds. Making sophisticated decisions was not part of our process. And if we could have thought things through, we had no resources to carry our own share of the load.’

So, I can sit here at my computer, comfortable that something can happen, and most likely I can get treatment quickly and at low and affordable cost.

But I lived for two years in a terrifying world, totally dependent on a system I didn’t understand, and couldn’t afford to leverage to our benefit.

There are millions upon millions of people not so fortunate as I, and why should I not help them out by one of life’s basics: affordable health care? I stand for sharing.

4) There has always been something incongruous about the need to further pad the vast resources of the already wealthy.

Capitalism (unfortunately) is based on consumption, but people in middle and lower classes need resources to buy things and thus enrich the capitalists, particularly the wealthy.

The very wealthy, however, remind me a lot about a favorite childhood comic character, Scrooge McDuck, cavorting around in his money bin.

Salting away wealth in a bank, perhaps even offshore, is not a way to help a great society stay great. Greed ultimately kills us all.

#1245 – Dick Bernard: The Flights – “City in the Sky”

“BREAKING NEWS”: About noon came the report of the incident at the area of Houses of Parliament in London. It will dominate the news cycle. I notice that greater London has about 8.6 million population. Every single thing will focus on the incident at Parliament. Politics and News Media find things like what happened in London today very useful. It’s a good time to finish off the blog post I started earlier this week.

*

A week or so ago we joined “The City in the Sky“, taking a short vacation to Denver and a visit with family there.

(Click to enlarge)

A plane contrail far above Pike’s Peak indicates that part of the “City in the Sky” is passing by enroute somewhere….This would have been March 10, 2017.

We’re not jet-setters. Taking an airplane once every couple of years might describe us fairly well. My history goes back to about 1962, from Denvers Stapleton Field to Bismarck ND, via Rapid City SD (The airliner had two propellers, very noisy. The connecting flight to Bismarck was full, so they flew two of us to Bismarck in a four-seater. It was a clear, dark night and the western Dakotas were not well lit.)

Being an infrequent flier, gives an opportunity to take occasional ‘snapshots’ of the “neighborhoods” in airplane world, and compare my reality with the normal assessment which comes via the news.

Wednesday, March 8, through Sunday, March 12, were very civilized days at and in the air between the Minneapolis and Denver airports. I say this even though we endured delayed flights on both ends of the trip (equipment problem, then weather).

This has been my normal experience over the years. Only once was there a legitimate drama in an airplane, and that was back in the 1970s, best I remember. This time it was a guy with a heavy metal suitcase which he refused to submit to inspection. Finally they let him be. I notice him the rest of the flight!

As “The City in The Sky” makes clear, the million or so people per day that fly in airplanes from here to there and everywhere, are a community of strangers.

We could do worse than the airport crowd. Come to think of it – and I get around a lot in my daily meanderings – the normal dynamic wherever I happen to be is much like it was on our short trip: people just being people.

On this trip, security (which really didn’t exist until post-9-11, though sky-hijacking increased security back in the 1970s) worked efficiently and quickly and without incident either way. Enroute out, a couple were detained very briefly, but not because of suspicion. The child was in a wheelchair, and the Grandma had an artificial hip, so security had to accommodate, and did so quickly and politely.

Did I mention? They appeared to be middle eastern, dressed in the conservative manner of many Moslems.

Perhaps somewhere in the terminals, something was coming down…no question…in a big town, things do happen.

But my point is simple: those around and with us in the airports were just ordinary people, “no drama”.

This afternoons news will be full of London, London, London…cut to a deadly car crash somewhere…cut to perhaps a shooting, or something else. And this is the normal news, delivered by people I like.

Meanwhile, in London, there will be the usual bad ending for the perpetrators; and one feels empathy for the victims and their families, but odds are very tiny that something bad will happen to the overwhelming vast majority of us.

And that’s the good news for the day.

Of course, bad news sells. So it goes….

#1244 – World Storytelling Day 2017, March 21, 2017

Yesterday, the first day of Spring, has, since 2003, also been called World Storytelling Day by an informal network of storytellers.

This years theme is “Transformation”.

If you’re in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area, and are looking for something to do this evening, Tuesday, March 21, come over to the Landmark Center in St. Paul for this years local event, 6-9 p.m., with stories beginning at 7 p.m.

All details for the St Paul event can be read Stories Mar 20001. There is a followup event for children on Saturday, March 25, 10 a.m., also at the Landmark Center Weyerhaeuser Auditorium, St. Paul MN. Details here.

If you live elsewhere and the topic seems interesting, here’s the website for basic information about how the day came to be, and is. There were many events yesterday (March 20). My friend, Larry Johnson, one of tonights story tellers, says “there were 18 or 19 countries listed on the calendar, including 33 events in German speaking countries. Argentina and India came in yesterday on the storytelling day listserv.”

Perhaps an idea to share in your community for the future!

#1243 – Dick Bernard: The Shack

(click to enlarge)

A week ago, with son and daughter-in-law, we went to the film, The Shack, at a theater within a few blocks of Littleton CO’s Columbine High School (April 20, 1999).

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, take in “The Shack”.

This is a “to each his (or her) own” film…here’s “Rotten Tomatoes” and “IMDb” reviews.

I read the book early on, in 2009. Now it’s at 20,000,000 sold it says. Here’s the author on his work.

Here’s the Amazon reviews.

I gave the book the highest rating; similarly the movie. Apparently I’m not alone.

As readers of this blog would know, I’m Catholic, and faith issues are important to me.

What I did with the Shack, both book and movie, was to reflect on the issues being raised, and how they applied to me, and how “organized religion” impacts positively or negatively on this business of “belief”.

Some time in the future, I’ll expand on this, in “The Shack II”.

Till then, consider taking a couple of hours to watch the movie!

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day and weekend to follow.

POSTNOTE:
After writing the above, I checked back and found a previous blog I had written after I’d read the book, and also the review I’d done of the book for Amazon.com. Here they are:

Blogpost about “The Shack”, Dick Bernard, December 13, 2009 here.

Earlier in 2009 I submitted the following review of the Shack to Amazon. It remains on-line, buried among many, many others: “As a rule, I don’t like novels, and when a friend asked if I’d read “The Shack”, and wondered what I thought of it, I bought the book, started it, but wasn’t sufficiently interested to continue past chapter two.

Then, a few months later, late in 2009, I picked up the book again, and this time didn’t put it down, and then recommended it to everyone on my Christmas greeting list.

As I read its message, The Shack gives us permission to forgive ourselves for our real and imagined transgressions, and casts the Christian Trinity in a most down-home and remarkable way. Is the portrait real? No more or less than any other expression of belief, about God and the Trinity and Eternity might be.

Ironically, the day after I finished the book, my pastor at the Catholic Church I attend gave a homily on hearing people’s confessions, and after they’d confessed, his asking them what penance they’d give themselves for their sins. He invited them to forgive themselves. I gave him a copy of The Shack, and I haven’t heard back from him. My guess is it doesn’t fit the theology he’s obligated to protect, but in his sermon he gave the exact same message that The Shack gave, in my opinion.
The Shack is a wonderful, remarkable book.

Dick Bernard: Planting Onions…and Glorious Flowers

Today’s post is a recollection about my Aunt and Uncle. Shortly, we leave for a few days vacation. This computer will lie quiet for awhile. The following post has nothing to do with politics…then again, it may have everything…. At the exact same time I was composing this, among many critical issues, the most important of all, “repeal and replace” “Obamacare” has erupted in our nations Capitol. Insuring all of we citizens against catastrophic medical costs is a very, very big deal everyone needs to care about. In my view, the launch of this supposedly new plan is like launching a nuclear bomb against an unsuspecting people…. Here is a long and readable summary to read on this issue, if you wish. I will write later on my deep personal concerns on this matter. More in coming weeks.

Vincent Busch May 7, 2013


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“Forwards” are not always welcome, as anyone who does e-mail knows.
Sometimes, like a couple of days ago, comes a gem, one such reaching me from a North Dakota farm near my ancestral farm at Berlin ND, a blog post by Rachel Held Evans received and forwarded to me by a good friend.
What caught my attention was the headline: “…Planting Onions*….”
What attracted my memory was remembering a row of onions I watched being planted by my Uncle Vincent May 7, 2013. (See photo which leads this post).
Uncle Vince was 88 at the time, and this visit he had a compelling need to plant some sweet onions in the now nearly vacant one acre garden he and his sister Edithe had kept alive long after the rest of the nine family members who had lived there, helping with and enjoying the fruits of the garden, had passed on.
Now there were only the two of them. and for seven prior years they’d lived in assisted living in town. But near every day they’d drive out to the old farm, and every spring was the ritual planting. Every year, the actual planted area decreased, but every year the entire acre was cultivated, to keep weeds at bay.
Now the gardeners were down to my Uncle, and he had very little energy left to expend. But once again he had plowed the ground, preparing the soil, and now it was time to plant something.
Six months earlier his sister had been admitted to the Nursing Home, and Uncle Vince now had to come to the farm alone. This year about all he was managing to plant were a couple of row of sweet onions. In his quiet way that pleasant day in May, I seemed to be witnessing almost a religious rite, near grief: a nod to a past that was rapidly disappearing.
It was while looking for the photo that leads this post that I came across another photo of something else I had seen at the same farm, a few minutes earlier that May day, as we drove up the lane, past the long vacant farmhouse.

Aunt Edithe’s voluntaries, May 17, 2013


Those and other flowers were Edithe’s passion, and probably in a previous year she had planted them, and here they were, unattended, but beautiful nonetheless, adding life to the house and surroundings..
No one had been by to remind them that it was time to bloom; they paid no mind that no one was weeding around them, or making sure they had water; or that they had an audience to admire them. They just were….
It seems to me, now, four years later, that both Uncle Vincent and those flowers were sending their own messages to us, about things like reverence for the land and tradition, about devotion to the better sides of our nature. Many other messages can be conveyed. They are for you to contemplate yourself and, if you wish, to share with others as well.
Have a great day.
* – Ms Evans post talked about “revisiting Madeleine L’Engle’s Genesis Trilogy,” and being “struck by how forthcoming the author is about her own fears around raising children during the Cold War. She writes of one particularly worrisome season: “Planting onions that spring was an act of faith in the future, for I was very fearful for our planet.”
In her Mar. 1, 2017 blog post, Ms Evans commented: “Planting onions” has come to signify for me the importance of remaining committed to those slow-growing, long-term investments in my family, my community, and the world, no matter what happens over the next four years”.
POSTNOTE
Time went on after that May visit to the garden.
In mid-July I made another visit to Vincent and Edithe; and once again Vince and I went to the old farm between Berlin and Grand Rapids.

July, 2013 in the garden


Vincent told me the rows of sweet onions were no more – he had gone out to the farm by himself, after dark, to plow the garden, and by mistake plowed them under.
It was clear to everyone that Vincents memory and general health were failing as his sisters had.
My next trip, in September, it was even more clear.
In November, 2013, Vincent joined Edithe in the memory care unit at the St. Rose Nursing Home in LaMoure. In Feb, 2014, she died at 94. Almost exactly a year later, in Feb, 2015, Uncle Vince passed on, having just reached 90.
At the lunch after Vincent’s funeral, neighbor farmer Pat Quinlan recalled the onion sandwich Vince had given him one day when he was over helping. It was the funniest of stories, as the photo below attests. Probably Vince would have squirmed, but it was all in great humor. Vince was who he was. In life, he would appear to be just an ordinary farmer with a small farm. But he was oh, so much more….

Pat Quinlan (at right) remembers the onion sandwich, February, 2015


We have only our own images of what heaven might be like.
Perhaps there is a garden and flowers and gentle breezes there.
Meanwhile, here on earth, let’s do what we can to make this world a better place for all of us.

Edithe and Vince in their garden July 27, 2007


Flowers and Onions, July 27, 2007


Edithe and Flowers, July 27, 2007


Edithe with the flowers from the garden July 27, 2007

#1241 – Donna Krisch: Diary of a Working Visit to El Paso. A Lenten Reflection

“SNIP” Feb. 27: “We decided on a menu of macaroni & cheese with tuna and peas, spaghetti and a carrot/yellow squash combo and apples. I started the meal and all at once was joined by a woman from Honduras who really knew how to cook. I speak basically no Spanish but could understand very well that I had not cooked the vegetables correctly. We were then joined by a woman from Brazil so none of us spoke each others language but we all knew the language of human.”
NOTE FROM DICK BERNARD: A long and very powerful witness to the less publicized side of our neighbors in Mexico and Central America by retired teacher, Donna Krisch. (She and I “share” North Dakota roots, and an Aunt, long deceased.) I hope this essay diary of two weeks in El Paso is shared broadly. All photos, excepting Statue of Liberty, by Donna Krisch, click on any to enlarge. Guest columns, such as Donna’s, are always welcome here. dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom for information.
DONNA KRISCH
Wednesday February 15, 2017
Today four Basilica of St. Mary (Minneapolis MN) members plus myself will leave for El Paso Texas to help in a shelter on the Mexico/Texas border. We have two nurses in our group and the rest of us will help however we can. The people coming to the shelter are seeking asylum from violence in their own countries. We have heard most are coming from the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
We arrived in El Paso yesterday afternoon. During our stay we will be staying at a beautiful, old convent of the Loretto Sisters directly across the alley from the shelter where we will be working.

Arriving at El Paso


Clothing room at the shelter


Dormitory for volunteers


When we arrived at the shelter a Brazilian woman with two small children was being taken to the airport to catch a flight to Boston to meet family having spent the night at the shelter. The morning was spent getting a tour of the facility, and sorting clothes that were collected by the Basilica children. In the afternoon, we met with Eina Holder, director of the shelter. She gave us a brief history of the shelter and an update on what we can expect to be helping with during our stay. In December, there were some days where up to 150 asylum seekers stayed at the shelter mainly from Central America and Brazil.
People coming to the border are questioned, fingerprinted by Border Patrol and processed at a facility an hour away. Some are required to wear an ankle bracelet with a tracking number and a phone call is made to a family member or friend vouch for them and send them travel money.
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) will bring them to one of 3 shelters. Nazareth Hall receives asylum seekers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and people will stay for 1-3 days and then either travel by bus or plane to meet family somewhere in the US. In the last few weeks the number of people seeking asylum has dropped so significantly that two of the shelters will be closing next week. Starting Monday, Nazareth Hall will be the only short-term shelter open. No one can explain why. Some possible reasons we heard were increased border patrol and also the new administration’s stance on immigration.
We have been treated so kindly by everyone we have met.
Friday, February 17, 2017
This morning we went to the shelter at 9 AM. Our work for today would be to continue to organize clothing, disinfect and disassemble cots, and organize the storage room full of supplies.
At noon, we attended a peace gathering in front of the El Paso courthouse. We were introduced to Fr. Peter & Sr. Betty. Fr. Peter is 94 years old and Sr. Betty is in her 80’s. They have devoted their lives to the work of the poor in Central and South America. They currently live and work with the poor in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso. It was as if we were in the presence of saints. Each Friday they are among a small gathering of people that bring their tattered peace signs and stand on the corner for an hour.
After lunch, we went for a tour of Annunciation House. This shelter houses people seeking asylum that need to have more than 24 hours to figure out where to go. Some may stay for months. It is run by volunteers and houses up to 100 if needed. Upstairs in the house we saw the dining room and kitchen. Eina our guide then took us into the chapel which also serves as a bedroom when the shelter is crowded.
On the wall behind the make shift alter was a cross made of metal boxes each containing a shoe found in the desert where people might have crossed.

Cross of shoes found in the south Texas desert


One of the shoes in above photo


The story Eina told was of a young child traveling with her mother. The mother had written the phone number of the relative in America where they would go to live with in ink on the child’s hand. Along the way, the mother died. When the little girl was finally found, she was holding her fisted hand very tight. When she finally opened it the phone number was smeared so no one could decipher the number.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Today started when Eina, the director of the shelter where we are working took us to her church to meet some of the young teenagers that came unaccompanied to the border and are now at Southwest Key a facility for children and teens.
Three times a week, they host groups of 10+ youth to come, play games, do a prayer service and have a meal like pizza and soda. Each week groups of youth ages 3-17 come to Rico center for three hours away from the detention center. This ministry is named in honor of the priest’s nephew who was murdered in Mexico.

Poster at Rico Center


Seeing these young people not knowing what they have been through, what they have seen, who they left behind at home was very moving for all of us. We prayed with them and for them. When we were leaving, the young woman leading the group thanked the “white people” for coming.
After lunch, we returned to the shelter to finish up tasks to be ready for people arriving on Monday.
*In 2015, there were 75 shelters that house children along the US-Mexico border housing approximately 14,365 unaccompanied minors. Rico ministries and the detention centers collaborate to provide this program for youth in detention. Their future is unknown, they may be deported, they may reunite with another relative. If a pair of siblings comes to a center and one turns 18 they will be separated and the 18-year old will go to adult detention. You have to ask yourself what kind of a nation does this to children.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Beautiful sunny morning in El Paso. Eina picked us up for mass at 11:30 and we drove across town to El Buen Pastor parish in Horizon City, a suburb of El Paso. The church is in one of the poorest neighborhoods of El Paso and is surrounded by a very wealthy suburb.
When we arrived. the church was already filling up 45 minutes early. I have never felt so welcome in a Catholic church. The priest welcomed us during the sermon and we were thanked by the entire community at the end of the mass. During the handshake of peace, a little 4-year old boy came over into our pew, crawled through the entire pew, and shook everyone’s hand. After the 2-hour long mass we purchased 80 tortilla’s, to deliver to the farm workers at their center in downtown El Paso.
When we arrived at the farm workers center we were greeted warmly by a man named Carlos Marentes who runs the center. The center is located on a corner where farmers will pick up day laborers to work in the fields if there is work. They have lockers and showers and sleep on the floor. At midnight, they arise and stand out on the street and wait to be picked up if there is work. Of all we have seen so far this for me was the most difficult. Grown men with skin like leather, sleeping on the floor. Maybe it was because of growing up on a farm but I saw in those men my brothers and uncles and really for no other reason than luck is there life so very different.
We introduced ourselves and they introduced themselves and the Mexican state they are from. We then joined hands and said a prayer. One of the men I was holding hands with was missing half a finger and another I am sure must have Parkinsons Disease.
The work they were doing tomorrow was picking hot chilis. Apparently, they pick by the 20-gallon container and for each one they fill they get a chip which will then be exchanged for money. The plants are low growing so if you are tall you need to crawl through the fields on your knees. We were told by the end of the day their hands feel like they have a fever. Carlos thought they may also be planting onions. To do that they poke their fingers into rock hard ground and put onion plugs in each hole. For all this earn an average of $6,700 per year (just over $500 per month).
Monday, February 20, 2107
Our day started this morning at 9:15. We cleaned this huge gathering room called the Sala. After packing up the 40+ cots and them stashing them away we sorted through a great number of toys, vacuumed the rug to get ready for the next group of travelers. We received instructions on how the intake process works.
At 1:30 an ICE van pulled up to the shelter and dropped off 4 families with a total of 9 people. Usually the processing center feeds them lunch but when they arrived they had not eaten. The group were a father and son from Brazil who were going to Boston, a young mother with a two-year old and a seven-year old from Guatemala going to Florida, a mother and her 16 year old son from Guatemala going to Nebraska, and a father and his 10 year old daughter going to North Carolina.
After a short interview one of the workers tried to call their US families waiting for them. We then helped them find a new change of clothes, show them their rooms and help them find the showers.
Every Monday a local church brings a delicious meal of beans, rice and shredded beef. One of the men that brought the food sat down at our table and talked about why he does this work. He told us that 5 years ago he was an engineer and very successful owner of a construction company when he had a heart attack. He was lying there close to death when he decided his life had to change. He decided he needed to give back because his life had been so good so he now makes and serves dinner every Monday night at the shelter.
Things we found out about the families: the Brazilian man decided he wanted to go back to Brazil. He had left two daughters behind. For him to do that he would not ever be able to get back into the US again, plus he would need to go to a detention center until a whole planeload of detainees needed to go back to Brazil. The mother with her 16-year old son was pregnant with him the last time she saw her husband. The 10-year old little girl was complaining of her legs hurting and the dad just said that yesterday they had spent the entire day running.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Today seemed like a long day. We started at 10:00 with a meeting to write a shopping list for the shelter and then purchase the food. Three of the families from yesterday are waiting for bus tickets sent by their receiving families. The father and his ten-year-old daughter will be leaving on the bus at 4.
The process when families arrive looks something like this. The director of the center and one of our Spanish speaking volunteers do the initial intake (finding out what papers they have, finding out who to call to receive them, etc.) From the office, they are taken to their sleeping rooms.
Next, they are taken to a used clothing room to pick out one set of clothing because they literally come with the clothes on their back. The final stop is the shower where they each are given a hygiene kit with everything they need. After they shower we give them sheets and blankets to make their beds.
Today the refugees did not get dropped off by ICE until about 3 PM so by the time they finished everything another church group had come in with the evening meal which we shared with the families. After dinner, we helped them make their beds and get settled in.
The group that arrived today were two families from Brazil. One of them was a father and his 1½ year old son. They left Brazil because they had witnessed what he called a “massacre.” His wife and their older daughter will come soon maybe tomorrow. The reason they came separately and not together was they would have been separated at the border. The father would have gone into a detention center and the mother would have come to the shelter with the children. The other two families were from Guatemala.
One was a nineteen-year old mother with a 3-month old baby the other family was an older mother with her six-year old daughter. The young mother and her baby were both extremely dehydrated so even though the baby was trying to nurse the mother had no milk to give. The baby screamed uncontrollably for most of the early evening. Although complete strangers the older mother stayed with the younger mom through the night to make sure she and the baby got plenty of fluids… amazing compassion.
We had the chance to see for the first time the electronic ankle bracelets. I had imagined maybe a small band. They are at least two inches wide, battery operated and the batteries need to be recharged on a regular basis or ICE will start looking for them.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Nazareth Hall got the call that 32 people (12 families) would be coming to the shelter by early afternoon so we sorted clothes, got bed linens ready and made sure we were prepared for their arrival.
This has been the largest group to come in since we came here. This time a huge white ICE bus arrived. We all felt a bit more prepared for what needed to be done.
During intake, I noticed a woman and two children. Throughout the process tears were streaming down her face and her two little girls were patting her on the back. Apparently when they arrived at the border her husband was taken away to detention and she and the girls were sent on. Everyone was once again very hungry so we served snacks while they were waiting to do their paperwork. While everyone was waiting, we noticed many of the people did not have shoe laces. Apparently, they are taken away when they arrive.
We left the shelter at 5:15 to attend a memorial mass in honor of Juan Patricio. The young man was killed outside the Annunciation House Shelter 15 years ago. We walked through luminaries that lined the sidewalk to the spot he was killed. We sat on benches in front of a makeshift altar outside. The mass was attended by many young people and many older adults.

Walk for Juan Patricio


Mass at Annunciation


Thursday, February 23, 2017
Many of the asylees [those seeking asylum] were leaving the shelter early in the day to go to the bus station.
Today people were leaving to be reunited with families in Maryland, Florida, New York and many more places. Because they will be riding the bus for several days and have no money the shelter sends them with a travel bag. Travel bags are made up of a blanket for each, sandwiches and fruit, snacks, water, and if they have children some sort of toy and pages to color. Some bus trips take over 36 hours. They are also given a winter coat if going to a cold climate state. Once the bags were made we started preparing for a new group of asylum seekers.
At 10:30 we got the call that 15 people (7 families) would be coming in the afternoon. After everyone was settled we put travel bags together for each family.
Tonight, we had an invitation to go to dinner at Villa Maria. This is a home for woman in crisis that need a place to stay until they can get their lives together. Women with mental issues, addiction and homelessness come to this shelter. Women from a variety of age groups live at the house. They usually stay up to two years.
Recently, however, women are being pushed to move out more quickly due to reductions in money from HUD [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] The home is run on grants and a fundraiser each year. We had the opportunity to sit down with the women and enjoy a wonderful meal that they had prepared. This special place houses 22 women and offers support and counseling, job training and access to classes at a community college. It is a very calm place with a courtyard in the middle.
We are so impressed with the organization, the planning and collaboration of these shelters. All of the resources are donated and all the staffing of the centers are volunteer.
Friday, Feb. 24, 2017
We got a call this morning that Nazareth Hall will be closing today because of an inspection of the attached nursing home. All asylees will be taken to Annunciation House until further notice. We are glad to have an afternoon to rest.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Matthew 25: 35-40
For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty
And you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made
me welcome; naked and you clothed me; sick and you
visited me; in prison and you came to see me.
. . . I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of
the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.
This is the reading Rubin Garcia referred to as we met with him this morning. What we thought would be a 20-minute meeting lasted 2 hours. Rubin Garcia started working with the immigrants 40 years ago when he quit his job and with the help of the archdiocese of El Paso opened Annunciation House. He has since opened many shelters as the need arose in the immigrant and the asylee community. All of the shelters including staff are operated by donations.
He started off by saying we probably should take down the Statue of Liberty.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The words ring hollow.

Statue of Liberty New York City harbor late June, 1972


Joni and Tom Bernard at Statue of Liberty, late June, 1972 (Photos by Dick Bernard)


Mr. Garcia believes that the church has failed to raise awareness for these most vulnerable people. The clergy need to start talking about Catholic Social Teaching. After 40 years and countless groups of people coming to the border to raise their own awareness nothing has changed.
In 2014 the first wave of immigrants arrived. They arrived in south Texas and because of the numbers immigration asked Rubin Garcia to house people in El Paso. He agreed with the stipulation that he would receive no money from the government so the government would have no leverage over these people.
From October 2016 thru January 2017 the arrivals of people needing shelter went up to 1,000 refugees a week. Since the new U.S. administration has taken office the numbers have dwindled significantly. Mr. Garcia thinks people are not coming because of new U.S. immigration policy and posturing. He said there is no official policy on who gets detained, and who doesn’t. The number of government run and private detention centers has risen with the surge.
In Mr. Garcia’s words our new President changed mindsets with the power of fear and the power of repetition of lies. He repeated the terrorist threat many, many times during his campaign. Mr. Garcia said we should ask ourselves how we feel about the leader of our country given absolute freedom to lie. What do we tell our children? He compared the terrorist threats to car accidents. Since 2011 there have been 80 deaths due to terrorists and 600,000 deaths due to car accidents. So, should we ban cars? Do we fear the car companies for making cars?
He encouraged and challenged us to talk to our neighbors, both however they voted about what is already happening in America. Find out what people are afraid of in regards to immigration. He also encouraged us to sit down with our pastors and ask them how we should be responding as Christians.
His biggest fear at this time is that the U.S. will set up immigration courts at the border and no one will be granted asylum. Once turned back they will be in Mexico which does not have the accommodations to house Asylees.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
This morning we have an invitation to visit Sr. Betty and Fr. Peter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. We are to cross the San Antonio bridge from El Paso, Texas to Mexico. Sr. Betty assured us she would meet us at the bottom of the bridge. We had a difficult time finding the right bridge and when we asked the response was always, “You’re going to Juarez??”

Fr. Peter and Sr. Betty and Cathy.


For over 5 years starting in 2005 Juarez was known as the murder capital of the world but in the past few years murders have dropped considerably. It was the city Pope Francis chose to visit in 2014. In any event, we were happy to see Sr. Betty at the bottom of the bridge.

Juarez, Mexico, border city of El Paso TX


Housing from the street in Juarez


Going from El Paso to Juarez was quite something. Crumbled streets, very primitive housing almost appearing to look like the site of a city that had been in a war. We made our way by bus to the little house and yard that Sr. Betty and Fr. Peter rent.
It seems like an oasis in the middle of a desert but is located in one of the poorer boroughs of Juarez. They served us eggs from their chickens and we talked about their years working for peace and justice in Central and South America and for the past 20 years living in Juarez. At 94 years of age Fr. Peter continues to say mass at one of the boroughs in Juarez. Sr. Betty at 84 has classes for women on her porch. She took us out to her backyard to show her chickens, and the tomatoes she had just planted. In their back-yard they have a covered area where she has made memorials to various groups of people that have been murdered. She has painted murals and listed all of the names of these people. There are murals for slain journalists, murdered women, students and men and people that have died in the desert.
Juarez has had many problems over the past few years. Early in the 2000’s American companies set up Maquiladoras (factories). A Maquiladora is a factory run by a U.S. company in Mexico to take advantage of cheap labor and lax regulation. Workers usually work 6 days a week for an average of $6.00 per day. When they first began workers especially women were drawn to these factories. There is a reason we can buy cheap goods in America. Sr. Betty was telling us that one of the companies was John Deere. The same job if done in America would earn a salary of $25.00 per hour. Hardly a living wage.
Monday, February 27, 2017
It is hard to believe this is our last day to work. We got a call that Annunciation House was receiving 39 asylum seekers (12 families) and needed help. About 2 PM ICE came with two white buses and dropped them off. It was basically the same procedure as Nazareth House with the exception that the men would stay at Annunciation Shelter while the women and children would walk two blocks to Casa Theresa. Some of the Basilica group stayed to help find clothing for everyone and I went to Casa Therese to make beds. Once beds were made there was dinner for 22 that needed to be made.
We decided on a menu of macaroni & cheese with tuna and peas, spaghetti and a carrot/yellow squash combo and apples.
I started the meal and all at once was joined by a woman from Honduras who really knew how to cook. I speak basically no Spanish but could understand very well that I had not cooked the vegetables correctly. We were then joined by a woman from Brazil so none of us spoke each others language but we all knew the language of human. The Honduran woman’s 10-year old son squeezed limes to make a beverage.
When everyone had their plates filled we all joined hands and said grace. It was truly a moving moment, I will never forget.
While this was taking place, the people were registered and given medical treatment if they needed it.
The stories of some of these women will stay with us forever. One woman carried her paraplegic son on her back the entire way from Honduras. Another woman and two children had wandered through Mexico trying to get to the border for the past 3 months. They slept in woods and would beg to sleep in people’s yards. At each place, they were told they needed to leave after one night. Another young girl maybe 12 or 13 year of age said her whole body hurt and was stiff. Apparently, there is this holding facility called the icebox because it is so cold at night where people can only be detained for 24 hours but she had been there for a few days.
Over the past two weeks not once did we see a potential terrorist. These are the poorest of the poor looking for a life free of violence. They come with their children, they come to be reunited with family, they come to make a better life for their families. Everyone I talk to in Minnesota seems unaware that this is happening here at our border. How can we the richest nation on the planet turn our backs on our brothers and sisters.
Thank you to the Sisters of Loretto for their hospitality and all the people we encountered during our time in El Paso. This is an extremely generous and caring community that works tirelessly to make life better for the poor.
POSTNOTE FROM DICK: Politics and Compassion are very uneasy companions. A dozen or so years ago I came across a succinct and very powerful explanation of the relationship between politics and compassion, made by then U.S. Senator, and former U.S. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. You can read it here. I read it some months after a powerful visit to Haiti, and after the Iraq War had commenced. The brief paragraph or two spoke many volumes.
Donna Krisch reflects on the very human side of the migration (refugee) story.
Others with the microphones and media and levers of power much stronger than Donna or myself can better publicize “illegals”, “drugs”, and the seamy underside of immigration. The comment by Rubin Garcia (above) brings it home: “He compared the terrorist threats to car accidents. Since 2011 there have been 80 deaths due to terrorists and 600,000 deaths due to car accidents. So, should we ban cars? Do we fear the car companies for making cars?”
Back at the beginning of the worst of the Great Depression, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt made a statement that deserves repeating, over and over and over: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
We are a nation of immigrants and descendants of immigrants. Even Native Americans, the first immigrants, initially came from somewhere else.
The only ancestor I personally knew who was an immigrant from another country was my grandfather, Henry Bernard, who came to North Dakota from Quebec about 1894. His only language when he arrived was French, and he had a first grade education. Doubtless it took years for him to speak English fluently.
He died when I was 17, and I knew him well.
Four of six of my great-grandparents immigrated to America, long before the Statue of Liberty became the welcoming beacon (and lest we forget, the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France.) My circles – all of our circles – are full of immigrants.
We do not honor ourselves by our present day fear-filled approach to people whose only sin is, as proclaimed at the Statue of Liberty, “yearning to breathe free”. We will, one day, be called to account….

Dick Bernard: The President Speaks….

There is a great deal to be said, after last night. Some of my opinion follows (there will be more said as time goes on.) A distillation of national opinions I always like is Just Above Sunset, this mornings edition here.
1. Probably the best commentary about the President’s speech last night is that the New York Stock Exchange index is up 341 points as I write, to over 21,000.
Personal opinion: when the Stock Market is “Bullish on America”, the people who cannot afford to play in it, which is the vast majority of us, should be very nervous. The big shots smell money to be made – lots of it. The upper echelons of Capitalism have always thrived during crisis times, including economic collapses (“buy low, sell high”) and most especially, war. The rest of us don’t have the resources or the expertise to play the game. Not that long ago, it is best to remember September, 2008. After eight years of war and false “prosperity”, even the Bush administration was very worried that the economy was going to collapse, and it very nearly did.
President Obama inherited a huge economic hole in 2009, and did his best, against united opposition, to fill it. Best this not be forgotten, ever.
The current occupant inherited his self-reported success coming into the Presidency from the work of President Obama, and he is now claiming the victories as his – and has a floor from which to begin to construct the next basement. All indications are that the sole objective is more riches for the already very, very rich, and panic for the rest of us.
The major issues I am and will be watching:
2. The Assault on “Immigrants” of all sorts, and on the Right to Vote and Participate in Democracy. An excellent long article about what is ahead is this one from New York Times Magazine.
We are a nation of immigrants. And we have a habit of assaulting newcomers: Catholics, Irish, Germans, Jews etc., etc., etc.
Yesterday, I did a quick “trip” through my own immigrant history:
One Grandfather was an immigrant (1894). I knew him well.
Of the Great-Grandparents:
Four of six were immigrants (early 1850 to early 1870s)
The other two Great-Grandparents remained in their home country.
Yesterday, about the time the President was speaking, a friend wrote an e-mail on return from two weeks at a U.S.-Mexico border facility, including this: “I have never had an experience like this… Last night a woman came to the shelter from Guatemala who had carried her paraplegic son to the US. What is happening is truly horrific.” I have asked my friend to write more, and I hope she will, for this space.
Meanwhile, back home here in the good old U.S. of A, I could watch on none other than the National Geographic Channel a series on “Border Wars” which makes it seem like hordes of Mexicans and evil others are invading us. It is easy to see how such stories get spread. All you have to do is watch TV. There is no perspective at all.
By personal feeling, I’m an internationalist: we are not and cannot be a free-standing king of the world. We are part of the greater world, subject to global things, like climate change, disease and the like, and we need to come to grips with our role as a world citizen.
We will see how an authoritarian leader who is cozy with the White Christian Nationalist philosophy will deal with supposedly inferior others, as he “makes America great again”.
3. The Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”). To my recollection, there was not a single Republican vote in favor of the Affordable Care Act when it was enacted. Then there were over 50 ceremonial repeal actions in the House of Representatives. “Obamacare” was hated.
Now there is talk about improving this supposed “disaster”, which people have come to value.
The real victims, if the act is repealed, then substantially changed, will be the people who struggle to survive. These are people who have no political power. People like ourselves have to stand up for them…and by extension for ourselves.
4. Our “White Christian Nation”. Make no mistake, this administration is warm to the white nationalists, for reasons which are easily noted by even casual study of the news.
In point of fact, we have never been a “White Christian Nation”.
Those who came before essentially eliminated the native Americans, here long before us; and then banished the survivors to “Reservations”, and if the Reservations happened to be on valuable land, new Treaties were signed, or the land was simply taken. One opinion, here: Native Am Genocide001
This is our white legacy. Most of us, including myself, have benefited from this action, which mostly took place in the 1800s, but was true from the beginning.
Can we forget the African slaves who built this country, and Chinese coolies, and French-Canadians laborers in mills of the northeast, exclusion of Jews, and on and on and on. Slaves were counted as people only to the extent that they added to the population, and thus political power, of several states. It was right there in the Constitution of the United States. (Article I “Representatives…shall be apportioned…according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound for service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons.” (This language was eliminated by the XIV Amendment of 1868, over 80 years after adoption.)
Last night we were at a school concert in what is essentially a “white” community, but in the choirs I saw African-American kids and at least two girls in traditional Moslem dress, singing like all the others.
The “Christian” piece is equally a fallacy, as if Christ would Bless such as we have done in his name.
5. Finally, there was a play for, shall we say, “kumbaya”, last night. Let’s all get along and unite this country. This rings a bit hollow after eight years of out and out (and acknowledged) obstruction of everything President Obama attempted to do. And Obama was criticized by his own supporters for wanting to work cooperatively with the other side of the aisle. It didn’t work.
COMMENTS WELCOME. dick_bernardATmsnDOTcom. More as time goes on.
from Florence: The President speaks and I can’t believe one word of what he says, for good or for ill. He has made a bed of lies and we lie in it, some simply hoping that the one thing they believe from the President’s mouth is the truth. As supporters of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) we just received their most recent magazine enumerating the huge increase in acts of violence based on whatever the perpetrators choose to hate. Meanwhile President Trump is now the darling of Andrew Algin’s The Daily Stormer declaring itself to be “America’s #1 Most Trusted Republican News Source”, previously touted as “World’s Most Visited Alt-Right Web Site.” For myself, I’m committed to at least one contact a day to an elected official, including the President, expressing my position and asking them to support it. In February I out-did myself with 40 contacts! They need to hear from all of us!
from Jeff: From Paul Krugmans column on Monday:
“Inevitably, one hears some voices urging everyone to cool it — to wait and see, to try to be constructive, to reach out to Trump supporters, to seek ground for compromise.
Just say no.
Outrage at what’s happening to America isn’t just justified, it’s essential. In fact, it may be our last chance of saving democracy.
Even in narrowly partisan terms, Democrats would be well advised to keep listening to their base. Anyone who claims that being seen as obstructionist will hurt them politically must have slept through the past couple of decades. Were Democrats rewarded for cooperating with George W. Bush? Were Republicans punished for their scorched-earth opposition to President Obama? Get real.”
from Gail: I agree with you on all of this, Dick!
from Joe: Thanks for the blog. I have no quarrel with anything you said,
from Bruce: As I see it, Dick, from the western most tip of Santa Rosa Island in Pensacola Bay, these times they are a-changin. The opportunity for progressive change is real. I think we( real progressives) need to organize around Bernie’s Revolution or the Green Party, Laurence Lessig’s “Mayday”(money out of politics), support/ strengthen Medicade/Medicare, and social security. All of the above groups are active & well run. Other than that what can I say…maybe we can even get Medicare for All.
from George: Those who have stock mutual funds also are prospering. That includes many of the middle class.
from Corky: How interesting that the stock market news of advances seems to take away the pain of 30 deaths and especially the children in Yemen. “Follow the $ I guess.” Where are our humanitarian priorities?
from Annelee: I agree totally with your blog on the President’s speech. I forwarded your blog to at least 20 people here and Germany. I added: As a nation where have we been? Where are we going???
Wish I would be as informed as you are.
from Tom: Dick….Thanks so much for your article. My comments would be these:… As I listened to the President’s speech to Congress, despite the comments that it was “presidential, I could not help but think of two quotes: 1) “His actions speak so loudly that I can’t hear what he’s saying” and, more famously from Protestant pastor, Martin Niemoller in Germany (1946), (#2) “First they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Communist. then they came for the trade-unionists and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade-unionist etc..etc…..Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me”….Could this really happen here?
Thanks again, Dick.
from Carl: “The rest of us don’t have the resources or the expertise to play the game.” I have to disagree with you on only the wealthy will benefit. My son is a welder at John Deere Seeding Group here. Do you have any idea what the stock market going up has done to his 401K retirement plan? He is not a high paid employee as there is no union or other competition. I personally believe every working citizen should have a 401K retirement plan for retirement. I have an education fund for each of my grand children that they get when going to college through Edward Jones.
That fund went up 12% since the first of January. I think the stock market going up has benefited the majority of the average working citizens.