This is a favorite Can’t Be True story of mine.
There was a young man walking down the street and happened to see an old man sitting on his porch. Next to the old man was his dog, who was whining and whimpering. The young man asked the old man “What’s wrong with your dog” The old man said “He’s laying on a nail”. The young man asked “Laying on a nail?, Well why doesn’t he get up?” The old man then replied “It’s not hurting bad enough.”
Several versions of this story are out there, notably one that has the dog howling. They can’t be true because what dog would lay around for a long time in a spot where all it could feel is pain? I’ve seen some dogs that did some dumb things but not that dumb.
So why is the story a favorite of mine? Cause it has a basic truth built in that we instinctively believe. Creatures want a better life. Humans want a better life.
That’s how America as we have known it for some 250 years got started. “The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone.” Eric Hoffer, 1973
If you need a good quote for almost anything, look up Eric Hoffer Quotes. For a guy that didn’t go to grammar school, he did a whole lot of thinking about life and wrote well. Check him out. Back to my story though.
People make changes when things hurt bad enough. That’s why we have immigration. Say what you want about immigration today, everyone else is, but people are looking for something better, to be left alone, to find a better life, to work at something, maybe for the first time in their lives. They are willing to risk their meager lives in a meager place to journey to some place where they might improve their lot in life.
Now there are some lessons in that story as well, Millions of stories in fact. And they are all true, even the ones that were lied to.
I have served and adored imigrants to this country. In Texas, when I did Steel work after the army, I worked alongside Mexicans that worked incredibly hard. I had church members in Fargo that came from Africa that worked harder than anyone I knew. They jumped right in and overcame some terrible times in their past. They contributed in so many ways to our community. I married them and buried them in their short time in this land of freedom.
They all had one thing in common, they wanted to stop hurting so much. The hurt didn’t go away after they got here. But they had more times without hurt than they would have had they stayed where they were. As we see millions of people come into the US today, we can respond in so many ways, from ignoring it to being overwhelmed by it. I have little certainty as to what the proper actions are in every case, but I am certain that when someone is hurting, I can seek them out and find out why? I might just be able to relieve a bit of their suffering.