Recorded history throughout the centuries speaks of the movement of people to find a better life. Biblical stories of these events have been written such as Moses leading his people to the Promised Land. European countries today are experiencing resettlement and mixing of different ethnic groups in their midst. The U.S. certainly has had its trouble with illegal aliens coming across the border to work for whatever wages they can find. Last night PBS on their show POV (Point of View) carried a story of jobless Palestinians crossing the border illegally to find work in a prosperous Israel.
The cameraman stayed with a group of them for an extended period of time as they struggled to get across the border, find employment once at their destination, cook their simple meals, sleep under cardboard or tin shelters, and visit about their dreams for the future. I don't think they played to the camera at all, and their remarks were sub-titled in English on the screen. They were watchful at all times for police and security forces, and one time their campsite was burned down. One of the men broke his ankle getting away, and his companions lamented that he was the only breadwinner for his extended family. You could feel their sense of loss as they watched the flames.
I thought it was high irony, but one of the places they found laboring jobs was in building a Separation Wall which, when completed, would bar them from coming across and finding work in the future. A vision of The Great Wall of China flashes across my mind or the Berlin Wall or the fence being built between us and Mexico. Obviously, no answers have been found for problems brought about from have-nots migrating toward the promise of livelihood. Fortunately, my migrating ancestors made a go of it.
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This morning I watched the "Morning Joe" program on MSNBC. One of the guests was Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Carter administration official, who, when asked what his views were on escalating the war in Afghanistan, replied that he was very worried as to what the outcome might be. I've never forgotten a passage I read 25-30 years ago in the James Michener book Caravans where he wrote that no foreign power had ever invaded that country successfully. Russia found that to be true not long ago.
