I Do Have A Voice

This past month I, with all of you, have been bombarded with heartbreaking images, cruel comments, savage news all around us, and feelings of inadequacy, outrage, fear, doubt and sadness all intermingled. For awhile, all of these feelings rendered me speechless.

I have read and heard so many arguments here and there, pro and con, optimistic and pessimistic, hopeful and damning, and all regarding the very same things. People are either galvanized to action or submerged into apathy. We either care or really do not care.

Today, I use my voice to stand for what I value most, which is God, family and country. I chose the US of A many years ago as my country. I have worked hard to become an asset to my adoptive home. I have paid my taxes, voted, and obeyed its laws to the best of my abilities.

I love my family. They are the motor that propels me to higher ground all the time. Their safety and well-being is most important to me. Every day, I arise with the hope that our day may be productive, happy and peaceful. That each and everyone of them has a roof over their heads, food on their tables, safety in their daily chores, and peace in their hearts. That at the end of the day, I may come back home and find all is well.

I also believe in God. God is not a myth for me, nor an indifferent being who created the universe and us, and then went on to greener pastures forgetting us.

I believe in a God Who is Almighty, All-seeing, All-loving, All- Omnipotent. A God Who hears my every prayer, Who grants my righteous wishes according to His plan for me, Who sometimes has taken things and loved ones from me for a season, but has blessed me with the strength to weather the storm and make me a better version of myself, always with the promise that all things, and people, will be restored to me some day.

For all of these, I believe I have a responsibility to voice my opinion respectfully and with His guidance hoping that I can put an end to contention for He Himself has said, " For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention..."

America is a land of immigrants. Not just North America, of which the United States of America is a part of, but the whole continent itself. Millions of citizens in the US can trace their roots to the Mayflower pilgrims, many more can trace their roots to Irish immigrants from the 1840's when the potato famine hit Ireland hard and death and emigration decimated its population to about 25%, and some others can trace their roots to those early Mormons who persecuted migrated to Ohio, Illinois and ultimately Utah, to seek safety for themselves and their families.

The pilgrims did not have entry papers when they landed on American soil. Many of the Irish did not either, nor had relatives waiting for them and ready to sponsor them. The mormons, although citizens of the country, were persona non grata for their beliefs and feared for their lives in their own land.

All of them had one thing in common, their desire for better lives and safety for their loved ones.

They found it.

Now, we have members of the same human family, from other countries, with different skin color, yet with families they cherish just as much, knocking on our door begging for mercy. The way we answer will one day help define our generation.

Those of us with strong morals, and more so those of us who claim to believe in God should stop and ask why do we worry more about the " letter of the law" instead of the 'meaning of the law."

I invite those who cite the Bible to defend their stand against immigrants, including illegal, to also remember what Jesus, the giver of the Law, said when asked which was " the great commandment of the law".

His words were, " ...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is LIKE UNTO IT. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ON THESE TWO commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22: 36-40

This is just my voice and my opinion...

As a woman, a Mormon, and a western/ Chinese doctor