Gracious words; outdated sentiment?
As I read all the “send ’em back” rhetoric with reference to the incursion of immigrant children on our southern border, I keep thinking about those gracious words by Emma Lazarus inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
And I wonder, is that now just an outdated sentiment?
Lucien Coleman
Weatherford
Documented could spark immigration reform
In Documented, a documentary on CNN, Jose Antonio Vargas tells his story of coming by himself to the United States from the Philippines in 1993 when he was 12 years old. Leaving his mother behind in the Philippines, he lived with his grandparents in California.
Despite living the past 21 years as an undocumented American, a very intelligent, industrious Vargas went to college and became an outstanding young journalist. Through it all, he lived in constant fear of being found out. He shows great courage in coming out via his documentary released this year, during a time when immigration reform is such a hot-button political/justice issue.
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner should call their respective bodies of legislators together for a required viewing of the 90-minute documentary and then discuss its contents. Documented could be a catalyst for initiating productive bipartisan work on an important and persistent issue.
Kudos to CNN for airing the documentary. The other two cable news networks, Fox News and MSNBC, also should air Documented, so that no one is deprived of getting a chance to view Vargas’ story.
Paul L. Whiteley Sr.
Louisville, Ky.
Church-growth principles apply
I’m optimistic about church growth, too. No church surrounded by a sea of people must die.
There is hope because (organizationally speaking): A+B+C > D = Change. The principles of church growth apply to the 21st century just as much as they did during the 20th century. See Matthew 28; Acts 1.
David Troublefield
Pampa
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