The weather is bitter, matching my frame of mind. Yesterday was close to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and over night, a whipsaw to 8 degrees and a stiff wind. Even colder existentially was the snippet of a NPR news report this morning. There is planned for today a White House Rose Garden ceremony where the President will sign into law a bill that will continue to fund the government, that does not include enough money to build a barrier wall along our southern border with Mexico. At the ceremony the President will declare a state of emergency which in effect undoes the bill which he just signed into law. Under a “state of emergency” he plans to hoover-up unspent funds to date, from the Federal Budget to build to completion his wall.

A bipartisan committee agreed that the wall demanded by the President ought not to be built because 1. no objective state of emergency exists at the border 2. barrier walls have been symbols of totalitarian states. The President brooks no compromise for what he wants.

It has been years since apocalyptic language from the book of Daniel in the prophets has come to mind. Christian fundamentalists have a fixation on “prophesy.” (As a kid I endured my share of sermons on prophesy.) References can be found to the lines in Daniel (Daniel 9:27) and in the Christian Gospel of Matthew I believe. I‘ve a sinking feeling that what will be put in motion in the Rose Garden is our American version of the abomination-of-desolation.

I hope that I am the crazy one.

Finally this letter to the editor that was published in the Daily Herald on Monday of this week.

Wall is idea to stop people from escaping suffering   Feb 11-Daily Herald

Being the daughter of an immigrant, I have my fair share of thoughts about Donald Trump’s wall.

Using a wall to keep people out of a place where everyone should feel accepted sounds like such an ugly concept. We should be helping those innocent people, not trying to hurt them. Think about all the people who come here, most of them parents who want to give their kids or family a better life, one they never had.

My family came here for a better life. America used to be a safe place for immigrants to come, but that idea won’t last much longer. Every day these innocent humans risk their lives crossing the border. They need help, help from the horrors they see every day at home. We need to give them a chance, to offer them help.

If you really have such a hatred toward immigrants, then do something to help instead of watching them suffer. They should not be treated like wild animals and be excluded from a better life. They don’t want to be trapped in a place where they have no escape, they want to feel accepted by others and have freedom.

This is not “our” wall this is your wall. A wall that you want. This wall shows your ignorance toward people who simply want a better life. Do you really think that these people would leave everything behind if they didn’t have to?

Kristen Aragon
Des Plaines