Day 3
Facebook log
Some thoughts about being an American and our ability and responsibility to except refugees from other nations.

While traveling to El Paso from Interstate 40 traveling East through New Mexico; I couldn’t help but be amazed at all the 1000s of miles of undeveloped land that exist in America. It also brought me back to our 1930s thru 50s when we refused to give sanctuary to numbers of potential Hebrew immigrants. The Jewish people were given desert and arid land probably not to dissimilar to our western deserts. Imagine how great our country would have been if we had invited them here instead of rejecting them. They have developed land that would have remained barren if not for their ingenuity.

As of 2017, there were roughly 7 ½ billion people on earth. Quoting the World Watch Institute, that would leave 1.9 hectares of land per person for growing food and textiles for clothing, supplying wood and absorbing waste. The average American uses about 9.7 hectares. If everybody consumed as the average American, the earth could only support 1.5 billion.
Another way this can be illustrated, according to the statistics collected by Brian Mcclaren
Is that we would need 4 ½ planet earths to accommodate Americas 23.7 acreage per person, if the world also used this average. Accordingly, in order to sustain the earth we need to use 4.45 arable acres per person.
I leave you with one of my lingering thoughts. If we refuse to except refugees with all of our resources; then Who?

Back to day 3 & 4. Homeless in El Paso
I arrived a couple of days early. For some reason, I’ve not been able to contact the person responsible for giving me a key to the church. I also have a volunteer coordinator that won’t even let me drop off my donations until she has her new volunteer assignment plan all worked out. I’m happy I do not have her job, it must be very stressful. Fortunately, I have a car to sleep in and a YMCA to shower and ride my stationary bikes. This morning, while biking, I watched 2 hrs. of Netflicks cell phone movies. Then I swam for another hour.
I had nothing to do so I went to the other side of El Paso to check out the only other Y in El Paso.
I certainly miss my MN YMCAs.
Last night I went to see where the Annunciation House was located. There was so much construction that I almost ended up in Mexico. If I would have missed my turnoff, I certainly would have ended up there. I also got lost on the way out. My on ramp was closed. I ended up sleeping in the parking lot of the first YMCA last night since that was my destination and I finally found a way out of the area..

Hopefully tomorrow, I’ll accomplish more. At least I have time to share my thoughts.

From El Paso’s Paco
The next day i was put to work. Id met some very courageous men and women along with their beloved families. I thank God that im able to be here. But i have to admit i sure do miss the El Paso's YMCAs. 5/25/2019