Anonymoses Cometh
Wise Leaders,
Imagine you and your beloved family are retiring for the night, warming your hearts and hands by the common fire. Your family has tended this land for generations, and you are the expert steward for your piece of land.
Your name is Sanchez, and your home is in Mexico, but the year is 1840. And your part of Mexico is now what is called "California".
You do not approve of these newcomers who are laying claim to the land you have tended for so many generations. You think the whole matter ludicrous. You even have papers.
The newcomers come anyway. In great number. And before long, you are chased from your home and called an alien. And since you never played the game of the newcomer, you are called an illegal alien...even though you have never left the area you have always inhabited.
This sort of situation happens again and again. It is happening right now, in our lifetime. It is obviously a problem.
In some cases, the rich simply throw the poor out. In other cases, the cause is that of homeland, and a claim thereto.
One might think that Mr. Sanchez would have a claim to his land, having nursed and nurtured the land for generations. Yet what if someone else comes up with a deed that claims prior ownership?
May we always remember at least the possibility that all things are loaned to us, so maybe, one day, we will quit killing each other for these borrowed goods.
There are many angles and arguments for both sides of these perennial questions.
I would like to posit a solution. It comes from Meister Eckhart, who reminds us that nothing is meant to be thought of as permanent, and all "ownership" should best be thought of as a borrowing. All things are on loan from God. Even homelands.
Granted, this presumes that all people believe in God, which is clearly not the case. But I don't think this is necessary to understand, because of death...all things are transitory.
If you go to Los Angeles today, you will not even have a clue that it was much like Mr. Sanchez' farm not that long ago. Some day, Iraq might look, and sound, like today's L.A.
May we always remember at least the possibility that all things are loaned to us, so maybe, one day, we will quit killing each other for these borrowed goods.
