The response of ordinary Mexicans to the caravan of Honduran migrants and refugees is an inspiring testament to kindness, generosity and compassion.
According to a recent report, the Honduran migrants/refugees “received help at every turn from sympathetic Mexicans who offered food, water and clothing.” The response to others’ suffering displayed by these Mexicans – probably of very modest means themselves – embodies the profound, ancient wisdom of compassion.
We are not separate. Others’ well-being is my well-being. You have to help the next person. Today it’s for them, tomorrow for us. From them we learn to value what they do not have. It's solidarity. They're our brothers.
Contrast this with the divisive hate-mongering of billionaire U.S. President Donald Trump, whose ill-gotten personal fortune alone could alleviate the suffering of the entire caravan and beyond many times over: “I will seal off the border before [the migrants] come into this country, and I'll bring out our military, not our reserves.”
This response, compared with the generosity of ordinary Mexicans, demonstrates the inverse relationship between wealth and compassion: the more of the former, the less of the latter. Let us, ordinary Americans, repudiate our mean-spirited president and emulate our selfless Mexican counterparts.
Jon Jensen, Salt Lake City