Responsibilities of the Privileged

My family is privileged. We are American citizens who speak English and have enough education to help our children with school work. We have the ability and the legal documents to work and support our family. We have health insurance. We do not live in fear that our family will be forcibly separated.

When I hear about undocumented immigrants in the news, I feel vaguely sad about their plight. But since I don’t know any of them personally, I’ve always been able to remain detached. Until now. A friend of mine got involved in the life of one of these families. (I’m changing all the names for obvious reasons.)

José works odd jobs and gets paid less than minimum wage. His wife takes care of their young child who has severe health problems. Their main reason for coming to the U.S. was to find treatment for their sick child. They also have a 13-year old child who had to be left behind. Recently, José went back to their native country to get their older son. As they were crossing over the border, they were both apprehended by border patrol and placed in a detention center. My friend, who is a U.S. citizen, is trying to help them out. It’s a messy situation.

What are our responsibilities as the privileged? I do think we are called to take care of those who are less fortunate than we are. I don’t think it’s optional. 

“Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!” (Luke 12:48 MSG)

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