It's All Backwards: The US-Mexican Border

I don't get into politics here as a rule but now that I live within a half hour of the Arizona-Mexico border I can see and feel the truth. I studied border issues in the late 1990's and wrote a book and screenplay based on my research. Before moving to the area last year I studied it carefully. Times have changed. I wanted to make sure I was making a good decision.

www.visittucson.org

I learned that the crime rates in Tucson are far higher than the crime rates in Nogales, the nearby shared bordertown. The U. S. Border Patrol here covers many bases. The highway check stations, the many miles of wilderness roads and pathways. I see their vehicles everywhere. Even on off-road treks. No doubt they have their own drones to do the initial scouting for them. Drugs are an issue yes. They are an issue everywhere. Drugs aside, border crossers are an issue, yes. Most of them are looking for a cup of water, a place to lay their head, or a new pair of shoes en route to their hope for a better life. Do we really need the military? A kazillion dollar wall? The National Guard? At what cost? 

Granted, there are longstanding issues of uninsured motorists, children of illegal immigrants, babies born on this side of the Rio Grande who are automatically citizens (and many good ones!) and drug trafficking issues. Language barriers, comprehension barriers and "Press 1 for English".  There are many issues that need to be sorted underlying the debate of walls and caravans. 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

As a Clinical Social Worker I have coordinated outreach services for over 30 years for people who are in dire straits physically, financially, emotionally. In my experience, the government programs have typically responded in 24-72 hours to a referral; a call for help for someone in need. They've always been wonderful. Now there is often a Wait List for first response. One week, two, six weeks. Their hands of advocacy are tied because of budget limitations.

I remember clearly a care facility in Cottonwood AZ years ago when the workers went on strike. The facility had to meet the needs of its residents somehow. Few of the unemployed locals wanted to do that kind of work for minimum wage. The facility ultimately hired Mexican workers who were more than happy to work for minimum wage and care for the residents as "familia". The facility was never a happier place, albeit temporary. I witnessed it firsthand.

Please pray for our leaders and their decisions, which currently seem to be undoing the things that took many years and others before them to put into place. Our own people are in need while debt money is directed elsewhere. We need funding for our own people, not for military to stand guard when, as I see it, there is more danger in our own schools and U. S. cities than there is at our borders.

Life is the school, love is the lesson. 

Politics builds walls that love tears down. 

Politics issues orders while Love works together 

to find common ground and compromise. 

A wall doesn't keep the others out, it actually keeps you in. 

God Bless America.  Ego says, "We've Got It Covered, Lord" 
While Love says, "Come! We need You now!"

If I Were You, If You Were Me

April is National Poetry Month. Why don't you write a poem too? You might surprise yourself with your talent on expressing something you are passionate about. Try to get out of your head and gently move into your heart and see what happens. I wrote this little rambling poem/song while I was out walking the dogs one night not long ago and I thought I would post it. In honor of April.

If I were you
I'd be able to see
The way you'd come to live for me.
If I were you
I'd hear the way
You honor me each time you pray.
If I were you
I'd feel your face
I'd touch your heart
I'd taste the life you bring to me
I'd know your scent when you are near
And when you're not - when you must leave -
I'd always trust that you'd return.
I'd have no fear. I would not grieve
I'd have great faith. I would believe
In you and me.
Two hearts entwined;
My life yours and your life mine.
If I were you
I'd taste
I'd smell
I'd see
I'd hear
I'd feel
I'd sense
I'd want you near
I'd love you dear...
I love you.

But I'm not you.
I'm not you.

 ©2018  Kate McGahan

Who is speaking in the poem? Who is You? Who is Me? Who is speaking? A child? A parent? A pet? A friend? A lover? God? Everyone who ever loved or couldn't love? It's all By Design. We are shaped by those who love us and by those who refuse to love us. At one time or another, one situation or the other, we each have loved in this lifetime and we each at a certain moment have disregarded the call to love.

If you now feel unloved, it is not true. You are not a victim of a life without love. Someone Somewhere loves you very much. Someone you do not see or seem to sense. You are never alone. Think about this and look around. You are the one who does not see. Open your eyes, your ears, your heart and find the One who loves you.  Seek. You shall find. 

Follow Your Gut Feelings - They Know More Than You Do.

I was just reminded of a St Patrick's Day when I was in my early 20's working at the nursing home. I was excited to get out of work to celebrate with my friends, but my last patient was an Irishman whose only wish was for a McDonald's Shamrock Shake. He was not diabetic, was considerably underweight and was a dear lonely soul. A disabled Veteran with no family, he was a bit of a curmudgeon. I always gave extra love to those who were rough on the edges. I knew they needed it more than anyone.

Much to his surprise I came back to his room about an hour later with an extra large Shamrock Shake for him. His eyes were wide and his smile was so big! He reached his bony hands out for the plastic cup and awkwardly fit the straw into his mouth. You should have seen his face; he was in Seventh Heaven. He drank about 1/4 of it and then asked to me to put in the unit fridge. He would sip on the rest in the morning.

www.flickr.com

The next morning I came in to work and learned that he had passed in the night. I was at the nurse's station with tears in my eyes, unprepared for such news. The Charge Nurse, my superior, took me by the shoulders and with a sharp glare shook me to my senses. "You can't go getting upset every time someone dies here! People are always going to be dying here! " Well, it was not the last time I cried over losing someone. I was so glad I did that for him.

Now that I know what I know about nutrition, I can't help but wonder if I pushed him over the edge with all that sugar and sodium! ...But no, I actually think he was able to leave once he knew that someone cared...once he knew that he had been considered beloved and valued upon the earth.  

Walking Over the Bridge into Shamrock Heaven

Editing Grief for a Happier Ending

My goal is to help you to heal first and foremost with this post, so if it means pointing something out to you that can help you to achieve this, then I will point it out to you.

There are quite a few of you who do this. Many health experts say we must heal from the inside out, but sometimes we need to change something OUTSIDE of our ourselves if we are having a hard time healing the INSIDE of ourselves. One thing you can change has to do with how you express yourself in writing.

When you use a lot of exclamation points, it fuels the urgency and the pain of the past. It actually keeps the incident alive inside of you. It empowers the things you are talking about which are the memories that continually come back to haunt you. No wonder they keep coming back...You keep fueling them!

Here are two examples. Read the first one, with the exclamation points. How do you feel? Then read the second, with the exclamation points replaced by periods. How do you feel? 

Feel free to leave a Comment below if you have any thoughts... or if you feel different. Some of you may not. Some of you will. Some of you can move towards healing just by changing the way you "talk" about things! 

Our thoughts are what create the inner environment. They can affect our total health, inside and out. With just a little discipline and "tweaking," you can shift your world and expedite your healing.  

You're Gone...

You're gone.

Just another case of

Not getting what I thought I wanted.

Instead 

I'll get what I'm supposed to have

Because the Powers That Be

Can make much better decisions for me

Than I can.

ZIGGY: I Was Guided by My Angel Dog - Guest Post by Jeff Crouse

In the fall of 2002 my wife and I were going through the beginning stages of a divorce and, as you can imagine, emotions were running high. I wasn’t sleeping well and had gotten up very early one Saturday morning with nothing much to do but finish the book I was reading. It was called, In the Company of Newfies and was written by a Newfoundland breeder named Rhoda Lerman.  It’s a great collection of stories about the author’s love of Newfoundlands. At the time I had the privilege of sharing life with a Bernese Mountain Dog I called Ziggy. As dogs can be, he was a constant companion who showed me the highest degree of unconditional love one could hope for. He was also a consummate comedian who could make me laugh out loud with s single look. Lerman describes in her book the life lessons she has learned from these amazing dogs. Her stories can move the reader from moments of tears to those of laughter in a heartbeat. Reading her book at that time in my life proved to be extremely therapeutic – almost as much as having Ziggy. I told him more than once that when I grow up I want to be just like him.  

In the Company of Newfies by Rhoda Lerman

Later that morning, once the sun came up I decided to drive over to the NYS Fair Grounds.  I had noticed in the morning paper that the AKC dog show was underway. I hoped to see the Berners showing. As I was walking around somewhat forlornly with my Big Dog tee shirt on, a woman approached me and told me I looked lost. She very kindly asked if she could help me. She had no idea how lost I was, but just told her I was looking for the Berners. She let me know they had already shown but the Newfies were starting soon and they were a close match. I told her that by coincidence (something I no longer believe in) that while I was more of a Berner fan, I had just finished reading a book about Newfies.  She asked me the name of the book so I told her and asked if she had ever heard of it. She said she had and in fact she was the author!! So there in front of me was Rhoda herself. I actually choked back a tear and resisted the temptation to throw my arms around her and give her a hug. Something to me she might not understand. I did however tell her how much her book meant to me and thanked her for introducing herself to me that morning.

So did Ziggy in his silent way direct my eyes to the article in the paper about the dog show? Or was it his inspiration that led me to wear a Big Dog tee shirt to the show, thus attracting Rhoda to approach me and introduce herself to me? I know I have my answer to those questions and I will let you decide for yourself.     

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeff Crouse, Author

Meditation on a Dozen Roses ❤️

Each perfect flower picked by you

Now full in bloom, at beauty's peak

Each rose opens ripe and red and true

As if to say "Here I am!

I entrust myself to you."

Like love that's unconditional

The blooms unfold with innocence.

They share with us their gentle gifts

They know not how to have defense.

Like you and me, they're in their prime!

How to keep alive and well

Though time's passage threatens

To bring with it the thorns

Of change, of loss and unplanned pain....

My time with you is cherished.

Will every shared and lovely moment

That I long to keep in bloom

Soon fade in it's own time?

The rose, divided from its roots

Has no choice but to fade and dry

But love that grows from roots of truth

Also has no choice; it cannot die.


Excerpt from "One Heart's Journey"