Now, I don't generally agree with much of what Reagan said or did, but I thought this quote offered some perspective:
"San Salvador is closer to Houston, Texas, than Houston is to Washington, D.C. Central America is America; it's at our doorstep."
-televised national address on May 9th, 1984
You know, we're really not that far away down here, and if that's the case, why doesn't life here matter to the majority in the United States? Things just shouldn't be as they are. If a family member moves from Minnesota to Washington for a promotion, we applaud them for taking economic strides. If an El Salvadoran moves from San Salvador to San Antonio, they're immediately considered a criminal.
While this argument was used by Reagan to defend killing hundreds of thousands in a war against communism, today I hope it might inspire a little grace and empathy for those who fall outside of the arbitrary borders that decide who is worthy of opportunity and who isn't. It's worth thinking about the lines we draw to differentiate one human's worth from that of another.
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