Category Archives: Leonard Cohen

The New Colossus Rewound

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

“The New Colossus,” Emma Lazarus, 1883

 Man, when did we get away from that sentiment? You have to go back to the LBJ years to hear the kind of hate speech passing as patriotism and Christianity that’s spewing out of the mouths of orators and commentators and letters to the editor writers these days.

When did all of this hate begin?

Oh, I understand why so much of it is aimed at illegal immigrants. They’re an easy target. They’re defenseless. They can’t answer back. You can accuse them of anything and hardly anybody rises to their defense anymore. Because once you do, you’ll get the hate mail and hate e-mails and hate phone calls.

I know my history. I know a certain segment of the population goes through these spasms of anti-immigration sentiment periodically. I know about the Know Nothings and the other groups that targeted aliens. I’ve seen the signs that read “No Irish Allowed.” Or Poles. Or Chinese. Or Colored.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I’d like to believe that it’ll pass soon, like the squalls in Leonard Cohen’s wonderful song, “Democracy:”

 Sail on, sail on

O mighty ship of state!

To the shores of need

Past the reefs of greed

Through the squalls of hate

Sail on, sail on, sail on.

 I’d like to believe that we’re still capable of that as a nation. But it is very hard right now. I believe we’re in for a rough time.

And here’s why. In no case have I seen any attempt by these talk show hosts to understand the poor souls trying so desperately to reach the United States that they are walking through a desert through the bleached bones of thousands of Mexicans and Salvadorans and Hondurans before them to get here. They’re willing to sacrifice everything for a chance. Even a slim chance.

Are they breaking the law? Yes. But there is a good chance that so did your ancestors (unless, of course, you’re a Native American or an African American).

Are they taking American jobs? Not according to the people who grow most of America’s food, butcher most of America’s pigs and cattle, or roof most of America’s roofs.

Are they the terrorists of 9/11? No. Not even close.

But Lou Dobbs will never know because he’ll never get to know these illegal aliens.

You know, Jesus was real big on feeding the hungry, visiting those who are incarcerated, clothing the naked, and loving the stranger, the alien, the unloved.

You’re supposed to feed ‘em, visit ‘em, clothe ‘em, and love ‘em, if the New Testament is true.

In short, you get to know them.

That’s the key.

It was the Rev. Raymond Bailey who first brought Frederick Buechner’s novel Treasure Hunt to my attention. In it, the narrator (Antonio Parr) has been away for weeks. When he returns, his young son has made him a sign. It reads, “Welcome Hone,” with the last leg of the “m” missing. Antonio studies the sign for a moment, then smiles:

 “It seemed oddly fitting. It was good to get home, but it was home with something missing or out of whack about it. It wasn’t much, to be sure, just a minor stroke or serif, but even a minor stroke can make a major difference. ‘Welcome Hone,’ the sign said, and I can’t helping thinking again of (Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and) Gideon and … Samson … and all the rest of the crowd … who, because some small but crucial thing was missing, kept looking for (home) wherever they went till their eyes were dim and their arches fallen. In the long run, I suppose (that’s how) we would think of everybody if we knew enough about them to think straight.”

 I suppose that’s how we would think of everybody if we knew enough about them to think straight.

Through the squalls of hate

Sail on, sail on, sail on…