Love is louder.

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Tears are hot this morning as the rain threatens, heavy dark clouds looming.

 I'm at a loss. 

 What have we become? 

 This big country full of pride and patriotism. 
This, on the eve of our nation's birthday. 
I am ashamed. My tears run unchecked.




Battles fought. Battles won. The over-taking of a country that wasn't ours.
Tribes and nations and proud peoples reduced. 
Herded like so many cattle onto patches of land. Stay there.
                                                                    
So we don't see you. 


As well the lovely ebony-skinned people taken. Taken from their beautiful shores and shoved in boats. 

 Brought like non-humans into a land that they didn't ask for.
Humanity and the heavens cried hot rivers of emotion. 

I see more people. 
Children. Women. 
As well men. All searching for what?


That intangible place they can see and feel in their feverish dreams. 
A place they can find where they are safe. 
And free to dream without the trappings of a crushing reality.

Their homes. A love so strong. But leaving to find
what they can never, ever find in places brought low by corruption and vice. 

Not a few days ago I was chanting USA for a
team and a ball in the lush jungles of Brazil. 
      
Now I see hate. I see chanting full of hate for buses filled with human souls.


Faces, filled with hatred and evil. 
Faces that have brought me to my knees this morning in prayer. 
Liquid prayers in tongue and the saltiness of tears. Streaming. Unstoppable.

                        
What is this hate we have? What is this right we feel?
Did God not command us to love? Unconditionally? 
Without strings? Without questions? 

I'm sorry. I can only love you if you have a paper. 
A paper saying you have come here the correct way. 
A paper. A paper. A paper.


 When did being undocumented become the unpardonable sin? 
When did people become illegal?

I see pictures of a boy. A man now so dear to my heart. 
A man I loved not knowing about a paper. I see him in the faces of these dear ones.



The ones you scream at. The ones you say LEAVE. 
The ones you have deemed unworthy. Because of a status. 

I want to gather them in my arms and feed them. Warm broth and crusty bread. 
I long to whisper that the world is full of good. 
The world is not all hate. That there is love.

 Love is louder. Love is LOUDER. 


Put down your flags. Quiet your chants. 
Rein in your unrealistic view of what belongs to us.

In God's love there are no borders. 
When he views us from above he sees no lines that separate.
Nothing belongs to anyone. 
We exist here for a time. 


What will you take with you? 
A lifetime of hate? A wishing for anyone not like us to disappear?

               Love is louder. 
                                               LOVE IS LOUDER. 


                                         

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