I must admit, I don't often follow politics and this presidential election run-up is really no different. But he's all over my Facebook feed, he's on my Yahoo! home page 'news stories' and NPR talks about him ad nauseum. He has said and done many newsworthy things, but the ones that most caught my attention were the suggestions of building a wall and banning all Muslims from entering the US.
When you say: "Get out!" I can say "Welcome".
When you say: "We have no other choice!" I can say "Let's work together to create a new & better way."
This past weekend I gathered with 2 other ladies who have had enough of the negative and we put together Welcome Kits for Refugee One. These kits are filled with cleaning supplies, baby supplies, pots & pans and kitchen utensils, and the most important, intangible around - hope. The goods we provided were donated by us and by our friends and family who also wanted to make a positive difference. (TI absolutely thank you as well, but this letter is for Mr. Trump!)
Luckily, she also shared positive stories -turns out we aren't the only ones Trump has inspired to take action! RefugeeOne recently hosted an Interfaith meeting where representatives from various religious groups came together to learn how they could help in welcoming those who were fleeing violence and destitution in hopes of a better life in America. They were expecting 50-80 people for the event but overflowed the location with more than 200. Two hundred people that weren't trying to figure out how to "keep those people out" and two hundred people who weren't interested in "sending them back". Rather, two hundred people who had heard the rhetoric of Donald Trump and wanted to express their absolute disagreement with him.
Thank you, Donald Trump for reminding us what we are at risk of becoming, if we don't each make the choice and take the action of love and peace.