Las Escondidas (Hide and Seek)

Speak to any undocumented immigrants about their border crossing experience and they will bring up the hunger they endured. Yes, they will also speak about the physical pain and suffering, but most will tell you that they easily endured the fear, dealt with the pain and suffering, but what stayed with them, what makes them sadly reflect on their experience was hunger.

Houtlust one of my favorite blogs which posts about nonprofit advertising and social campaigns writes about a great short film on the issue of hunger. The short is by Director, Pablo Olmos Arrayales.

The short El Escondite is a metaphor of a hide and seek game, most Mexicans will recognize the game (juego) as "Las Escondidas".

Hunger or famine for the most part is a result of ongoing wars, internal struggles, and economic failures, all of which are caused by humans. The result is that every year some 12 million children die of hunger around the world.

In watching the short film a powerful message is delivered. The message in the game is that once hunger has found (stricken) all the players, except for the last one, that last player has the opportunity to rescue all the others, if he or she chooses to do so. The message is you as a single person player can free all the others from their misery and deadly fate.

It's a powerful yet difficult message for one to accept, because for the most part our conformity is unconscious and not always an issue that touches us, or even one that we can relate to. The end result is that not enough of us take the necessary action that is required to fight the issue and work towards its eventual defeat or eradication.

As this country is increasingly divided on the issue of illegal immigration, it's important for all of us to take a step back, take a moment to reflect and ponder the consequences. It's important that we think hard on the issues and that we act in a moral and humane manner.

At times like these I'm reminded of words that I came across on the sidebar of RickB's TenPercent blog. In his About section he has the following:

The blog is called Ten Percent because of what Kurt Vonnegut wrote when remembering Susan Sontag - She was asked what she had learned from the Holocaust, and she said that 10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80 percent could be moved in either direction.

The issue of immigration, like the that of hunger are not issues that we like to address, worse many of us just don't know enough about the complex issues to make an educated decision and rise above the controversy, so by default we fall into that "80 percent" that Susan Sontag described.

The world is has plenty of war, murder, hunger, poverty, sickness, starvation, racism, discrimination, or any number of countless other indignities we impose on other humans, so on any given issue we can all fall within that "80 percent" category, I know that I fall into that same category on much more than one. I'm not proud, but I can begin today by learning more about the issues and take the necessary actions that clear my conscience.

Want to learn more about immigration, there is plenty of information available. The information and opinions come to you from both from the merciful and the cruel. Take the time to read their posts as well as the comments contained in the threads that include both pros and cons and you decide. Take your time, it's a complex issue and you digest as much as possible and decide for yourself, clear your mind and decide where you stand. It will take you a bit of time, but soon you can decide in what direction you allowed yourself to be swayed.

For the merciful go here, here and here. For the cruel go here, here, and here. You decide at the end of the day who you feel most comfortable standing next to.

Technorati Tags: immigration, hunger, Pablo Olmos Arrayales