Mild Eyes and a Glowing Hand

How soon we forget, how quickly we succumb to the impulse. Whenever we’re hurting, how appetizing we find that steaming dish of fresh scapegoat. Someone to blame, someone to hate.

Us versus them. They are taking what’s ours. They have no right. They don’t belong here.

Never mind that they are doing what we do, or in some cases what we’re unwilling to do, what we see as beneath us. They’re growing and harvesting crops, milking cows, preparing meals, waiting tables, landscaping yards, replacing roofs and windows and siding, fixing plumbing, installing appliances. They’re doing hard work, making an honest living, taking care of families, salting away savings, dreaming of one day starting new businesses and putting others to work.

They come to America, in search of a better life. Some came to Springfield, Ohio. A community not so very different from Springfield, Missouri or Springfield, Illinois or Springfield, Massachusetts. They came to escape brutality and misery in their homeland. They c…