While bringing my child to preschool early one recent morning, we had a curious conversation about migrating monarch butterflies…
It started off with a delightful discussion revolving around facts about monarchs. We spoke about information he’s learned in school and at home, including their lifecycle and the magnificence of metamorphosis. Then, he spoke of monarchs’ migration patterns; monarchs migrate from Mexico up to the US and Canada, often across generations. I reminded him that they do this just so they can have their offspring and their children’s children survive, even though they themselves don’t thrive afterwards. Most do not make the full trip, but their descendants do. Then, future generations go back to Mexico again, with the cycle continuing.
As we chatted, the metaphor struck me for our modern-day migration situation of people (in the US & beyond). This is not a new metaphor certainly (see #migration is beautiful & @bravocado._). But it hit home differently today while talking about the miracle of butterflies with such a young soul. People desperate to build better, flourishing lives for themselves and for their children’s future are not to be discounted.
The reality of migration is multifaceted and complicated to be sure, but the drive for a thriving life of opportunity and human potential is nonetheless worthy of discussion in an open, wholistic way. I am from a military family two generations back – from WWII to Vietnam, various people in my family have fought for our country bravely and with dignity (including my father and my paternal grandfather). My spouse is a naturalized US citizen, and I often spend months each year in other countries to learn about cultures different from my own and to spend time with family in South America. Thus, I too am multifaceted, but so are the individuals who migrate here. My take: People are people. Lives are lives…and those are precious. Let’s not abandon or ignore the power of true migration stories in our midst, amid the epic struggle and striving of folks TODAY; people striving for empathy, striving to understand one another, striving for survival. If Viktor Frankl, Carl Rogers, Maya Angelou, Abraham Maslow, Joy Harjo, and Mother Teresa taught us anything that we should carry with us in our hearts, and in turn our actions each day, it is this.
