It Isn’t About Them. It’s About Us!

Maybe I’m wrong. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. But I think we, “our great nation,” could us a bit of humility. Maybe more than a bit.

We talk about the U.S.A., often puffing out our chests and waving our flags with pride. But if we’re willing to be completely honest…it isn’t really “ours.”

We stole it.

We bullied. We manipulated, coerced, lied, and betrayed…yet here we are, 250 years later telling others they don’t belong?

Make it make sense. We’re still bullying, manipulating, coercing, lying, betraying…and still proudly flying our flag.

Now I’m not one to quote the bible, but this perspective seems lost on many who lean on the good book for moral guidance, so here’s what God feels about our pride:

Psalm 10:4 explains that the proud are so consumed with themselves that their thoughts are far from God:

“In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”

To me, that feels so spot on. Almost like He knew what He was talking about.

So who actually deserves to be here? In my humble opinion, that’s not the best question. Perhaps a more honest…more human question is this:

Who will we choose to be now that we’re here?

That answer to that question doesn’t begin with borders or policies or paperwork. It begins with character and compassion and care.

And “Deserving”… is a pretty dangerous idea. It implies a moral hierarchy, as if safety, dignity, and opportunity must be earned. Like “belonging” is determined by circumstance rather than something more divine. Our posture and pride invites us to forget that we are not here because we are more worthy, but because we were luckier than others…born on one side of a line, at one moment in history, under this flag instead of that one.

So the real question isn’t about “them.” It’s about us.

Will we choose to be people who conveniently forget how we arrived…forgetting the hunger, the fear, the courage, the desperation, the hope that once pulled our own ancestors forward? Forgetting that stability is rarely a reward for virtue, but a gift of timing and power?

Or do we choose to be brave enough to remember that no one leaves home lightly. That migration is almost always an act of survival, not convenience. That the same instinct to protect one’s children, to seek safety, to build a future. It lives in every human heart…regardless of language, skin, or birthplace.

Humility doesn’t mean opening borders without thought. Compassion doesn’t mean ignoring complexity. It simply means refusing to harden our hearts.

History is watching…not as a distant abstraction, but as a living record, shaped by the choices we make right now. Our children are watching too, absorbing like sponges, not just what we say, but how we behave and what we normalize. They are learning who counts and who seemingly doesn’t. Who is welcomed…and who needs to go.

Let’s let them look back at this time and see that we acted as we are guided from above: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” The order matters. Love comes first. Joy flows from it. Peace follows. Not rules to enforce…but fruit that grows.

And when they ask…and they will…I hope we are courageous enough to say, not perfectly, but sincerely…that we chose to be human first.