I tried listening to a conservative, call-in radio program last night. Five to ten minutes was all I could take before my bleeding ears forced me to change the station.
The topic of conversation was the “invasion” of immigrants “flooding” across America’s southern border.
The first thing I noticed was the ignorance on display about the average person’s living circumstances in Central American countries where the U.S.
has toppled governments in the recent past. The second and most prominent factor was the hard-hearted lack of empathy or compassion voiced by both the bloviating host and his lynch-mob minded callers.
It was painful to listen.
The ability to empathize – that is, feel an impulse for putting ourselves in another person’s place, to understand their pain, to try to feel what they are feeling as they are feeling it – is an important trait for every human being to possess. Some would say it is part of what makes us human.
Unfortunately, not everyone can do it. Many don’t ever try.
Both sociopaths and psychopaths can be identified by their inability, or well-practiced disinterest, in feeling empathy. So, they can skin cats alive and watch other people suffer without experiencing a twinge of concern or human kindness.
I can only hope that a high percentage of psychopaths make evening calls to conservative radio talk shows . Otherwise, America really is in deep trouble.
Perhaps you have heard the old saying about empathy: Before you criticize another person first walk a mile in his shoes. Then when you do criticize him you will be a mile away AND have his shoes.
At least, that seems to be the American, conservative understanding of empathy nowadays.
The painful lack of public empathy that I witnessed last night is also glaring evidence that many Americans who call themselves Christians do not know Jesus Christ from a hole in the ground, no matter what their “testimony.”
Empathy is THE cardinal Christian virtue.
The incarnation of Jesus Christ was/is the supreme demonstration of divine empathy. The Father’s empathy for us, lost sinners, motivated him to send
his one and only eternal Son into this world. Empathy for humanity moved the Son to become fully human; to experience all that we experience; and to stick with it for an entire lifetime. He walked in our shoes, carried our burdens, suffered injustice, died our death, and finally experienced resurrection as our Precursor.
To know Jesus is to know empathy.
To be like Jesus is to demonstrate empathy for others, but especially for 
those who are the most “unlike” us. The Son of God was UTTERLY unlike sinful humanity in every way. Yet, He set aside all privilege in order to rescue undeserving, ungrateful, self-destructive people like you and me.
The kingdom of God is a kingdom founded on empathy for others unlike ourselves.
It is a kingdom founded upon practical action to meet others in their suffering and to alleviate their distress, to bring practical solutions to human dilemmas, to save life, to make more room for those seeking safety, to share whatever we have with those who have lost everything.
Without empathy there is no such thing as Christianity.
Without empathy there is no discipleship.
Without visible demonstrations of practical empathy there is no Christian Church.
Without empathy there is no hope for the human race or the planet.
These countries of origin need to be fixed. And, you are quite correct that past US actions and policies have made matters worse in these countries. But, the US cannot take all these unfortunates in. Today, Africans from the Congo are flying to Ecuador and then making their way to San Antonio, Texas. No kidding, this is happening. The day will come when we be faced with life boat ethics, It is better to work to fix this problem now, rather than later when it will be much worse.
In large part, I agree Larry. But I also believe that the U.S. is obligated to grant asylum to people coming from countries that have been destabilized by U.S. meddling and intervention. It’s the old “you broke it, you own in” principle taught to me by my father. When America helps to make a country unlivable, we owe those people a new life here.