“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?17”
James 2:15-17
Good evening all. This morning I woke up a little after 7 to get ready for the day. The weather report called for scattered rain showers throughout the day. Thankfully I packed my rain jacket and beach sandals to avoid soggy socks and shoes. I packed my backpack with a pb & j sandwich, pretzels, pistachios, a liter bottle of water, directions to places I wanted to see, and my passport (because you never when you might need it, right?).
From the hotel, I sat out to find the humanitarian respite center so I don’t get lost tomorrow. There is only one building over 15 stories in McAllen and it houses offices for Chase Bank. This looming structure helps me to know where I am in the city. I took a couple shots of street corners I came across on my way to the humanitarian respite center.
It turns out that the walk from the hotel to the humanitarian respite center takes about 25 minutes, which isn’t bad at all. Though I haven’t stepped inside yet, I already know that I am going to love this place. I’m not sure if you can read the sign hanging above the entrance. In bold texts it has the name of the organization, “Catholic Charities: RGV.” But then underneath in italics reads the center’s mission statement saying, “Restoring Human Dignity. ”
Simple, and yet tremendously powerful. It is probably the best mission statement I’ve ever come across. It immediately sparked two thoughts in my head. First, I thought about how many Fortune 500 companies pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into consultants and focus groups to craft the perfect mission statement, and still fall short of matching the quality and magnitude of the respite center’s proclamation. I suspect even the bishops and cardinals in charge of the operation struggled to convey the center’s purpose. In my mind I envision an elderly and frail nun while in the midst of taking the minutes for the meeting of church bigwigs stop, raise her voice and say, “what about, Restoring Human Dignity?”
Second, by focusing on human dignity the statement correctly identifies the nature of the problem not only in McAllen, Texas, but in every corner of the earth. And that problem continues to be an increasing disregard for human dignity.
I’m almost 40yrs old and there are still moments when I am shocked at how quickly and easily some treat human dignity as optional or worse, irrelevant. When it comes to winning job promotions, wars, or elections; human dignity always serves as the first casualty. Consequently, I think the respite center’s statement also poses the question, “how much of human dignity can the world afford to lose before it becomes extinct altogether?”
I love the spotted owl and bald eagles as much as anyone, but what efforts are being done to keep human dignity off the endangered species list? Well in McAllen, Texas, there exists a small contingent doing what they can to see human dignity flourish and I count myself blessed to support their efforts this week.
Before the week is out I might just ask the center’s director if I can make their mission statement my own. On letterheads, business cards, and resumes it simply read... “Chris Ewing: Restoring Human Dignity.”
From the respite center, I decided I would another couple miles to catch a outside glimpse of the Ursula detention center I read about from news articles like this: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mcallen-texas-immigration-processing-center-largest-u-s-n884126
I stood across from the detention center long enough to take this picture and briefly wonder what life must be like inside those walls. After Iooking upon the Ursula detention center I started back for the hotel.
By time I reached the hotel I had accumulated over 28,000 steps. 28,000 steps. Not likely to impress the immigrants I will be serving this week. Humility and awe are the two emotions I feel most when I consider the millions of steps immigrants and their families take in pursuit of a better and safer life. It makes me ask myself, “how many steps am I willing to take for promote justice? How many steps am I willing to take to defend equality? How many steps am I willing to take to preserve human dignity? How many?
CJE