I just read this excerpt from another article...
"Following the end of the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson worked to piece the nation back together, but it wasn’t easy. Slavery had been abolished, but prejudice had not. In the South, state legislatures were working hard to pass laws that disenfranchised blacks and effectively made them slaves again. Unemployed blacks could be seized, fined for vagrancy, and forced to work for private employers in order to pay those fines. It was a form of slavery without the name."
Naturally, I thought about laws changing, compassionate immigration reform ready to role forward. O, happy day! Then, like a bucket of cold water tossed in my face, I connected the dots from the quote above to that future time. I realized that attitudes cannot be legislated. I felt so naïve to have seen this from only the side of changed laws. I felt a sense of despair, then hope.
Back to the present...on most days I feel frustration that I cannot do more to move legislation forward to fix some of the broken wheels on this wagon. I feel like all I do is inform and influence people to look deeper at the complex levels of this issue. I feel like that is of minor value as we all push this boulder up the hill.
However, this quote above made me realize the quiet yet giant impact I am having with my steady little conversations, Facebook posts, blogs, and living consistently with what I believe in front of others who know me. Those little things can be used to transform attitudes in ways more powerful than any laws that simply legislate procedure.
I will walk with my head held higher today. I realize that we can continue to give others a moment to consider immigration reform with compassion. We will impact and influence attitudes. Day by day, we will encourage others to think differently. Perhaps when legislation catches up, we will be further along than back in the day of Civil War rebuilding. That is a new dream for me, upon which I will continue to act.
[Quote Source: 2011 Copyright Moody Bible Institute • www.todayintheword.org]
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