Today's photo du jour is of a group posing for publicity for a play.  I happened on it while their real photographer changed lenses.  They seemed delighted to let me horn in on the occasion.  I rode away from the experience thinking about how all of us are playing a part... usually in relative safety... and that reminded me of the Saturday World Refugee Day with people wearing costumes from the countries they left to come for refuge and safety to the U.S.

Still reflecting on last Saturday’s Celebration/observation of World Refugee Day...

World Refugee Day was established by the United Nations to call attention to the courage, strength and determination of people who have had leave their homeland to find safety in another place.  San Diego’s observation of the day on Saturday, June 22, at Jacobs Community Center in Southeast San Diego, was attended mostly by people who either self-identify as refugees or have been identified as refugees by at least one of several San Diego County organizations affiliated with United Nations.  I had expected the occasion to be a celebration of freedom and sanctuary for world neighbors by Americans whose citizenship is not a gift but a birthright. However, the people who were noticeably absent from the event were the American citizens who are non-refugees.  A few of us who were born to American citizenship attended the event as workers or volunteers with not-for-profit organizations, but otherwise very few people outside the “refugee” community were present.  Congresswoman Susan Davis and City Council member Marti Emerald spoke briefly words of encouragement and welcome to the small crowd.  Performances by groups of all ages from various refugee communities were cheered mostly by others who had left their homes in places like Burma, Haiti, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others seeking sanctuary in the United States. The United Nations estimates that 45 million people globally are displaced from their homes because of war and violence.  

A refuge is a place of protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship.  I am a refugee.  All of us are refugees if we have a place of protection and shelter.  A question before all of is to what extent and under what circumstances are we willing to share our place of protection and shelter with other refugees who need help and relief. 

Immigration issues are being discussed again this month on the Senate floor, and again “amnesty for illegals”  is central to the debate.  Republican John McCain and Democrat Charles Schumer are leaders of their respective parties in the committee that wrote the bill being debated.  The bipartisan group is called “the Gang of Eight” in media reports. 

We wait and watch and listen.