Stop it! Really. Just stop!

Take a deep breath and let it go.

Get your heart rate back to normal and get a grip.

Now, think about it.  

What is it you’re really so worried about? What are you afraid of? Seriously. Let’s talk about it.

Those pathetic people traveling from impoverished and often dangerous places — are they really all murderers, rapists, terrorists? Are they really coming here only for the purpose of harming us? Planning shoot-outs at schools? Storming churches with assault rifles? Sexually harassing our daughters? Stealing our jobs?

Don’t you know some of those people? Or ones like them? Didn’t those mission trips to build houses and churches and share your faith with them allow you a glimpse into the reality of their lives? Were those missions of love or reconnaissance efforts?

Is that man on foot, holding on to his family or a woman clinging to a terrified child really so frightening that we have to send thousands of soldiers to the border because they will … what? Want something to eat, drink? A place to feel safe?

Is it not baffling that our elected officials are so worried about the national debt that they feel compelled to look at scaling back programs that help the very American people they say they’re trying to protect — the sick, the elderly? And yet, literally millions of dollars are readily available to fund troop exercises that a great many knowledgeable people are at a loss to explain?

If these immigrants were arriving from across the Atlantic, would it be different?  After all, our cherished Statute of Liberty does proclaim: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

If America has decided to withdraw that invitation, then please take down the “welcome” sign.

And what’s this about people saying their religious liberties are being restricted? Are you not able to go to the church of your choice on Sunday morning? Can’t you quietly pray all day in school if that’s what you want to do? Can’t you keep all of the commandments and not have an abortion and not delve into any behaviors you view as against your understanding of the Bible? Shouldn’t we all focus on our own shortcomings, our own sins, and let judgment rest with — well, consult your Bible.

And while you’re there …. re-read Matthew 22: 36-40, which says:  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Okay, I’m getting down off my soapbox. So, thanks for reading and have a nice day.