This morning I stopped to buy some bagels. When I entered the store, there were some of the Hispanic workers waiting to be served. The store clerk asked who was next and I pointed to the man who was there before me and he said in an accent, “No, no – you go.” So I thanked him and placed my order. When I was leaving, I turned to the gentleman again and touched his sleeve and thanked him again. His big smile was a wonderful “you are welcome!”
As I started my car, tears rolled down my face as I thought, here are my brothers – men who came here for the opportunity for a better life, a chance to work hard and care for themselves and their families.
To see others as our brothers and sisters is not just being soft-hearted; it is an altering of our vision. We need to look beyond appearance of belief, culture and politics—we must believe in a shared origin.
When we see others as “brother, sister”, we state no one is a stranger, and no one exists outside of God’s love.
This way of seeing requires us to resist the labels that divide the world into “us” and “them”. When we choose to see one another as family this is a quiet act of faith.
This “new seeing” of others allows us to deepen our commitment to justice. We speak out as the suffering of another becomes personal as it is being done to “family”.
We need to begin to see the world in this way as we believe that communion is stronger than division. When we truly see one another as brothers and sisters, we begin to live as a human family called to justice, compassion, and hope.