As I was ruminating on the pros and cons of immigration and more specifically, our current situation, I think I’ve found a ‘real life’ allegory that seemed to put it all together.
Birdfeeders.
Hear me out.
Birdfeeders are delightful things. The person maintaining them gets to enjoy doing ‘good’ and gets to see beauty that might never have been available otherwise. While the birds get a rewarding break from their fight for survival.
Yet, all good things have downsides.
Birdfeeders can become frequented by ill birds who, while benefitting from the ‘easier’ meals unintentionally infect the high volume of fellow visitors. If they hadn’t all been invited, many would have avoided that ugly result. (Think unvaccinated and/or unvetted criminals or terrorists.)
Furthermore, often after a daily schedule of visitors are established, predators show up. (Think cartels and human traffickers.) If you’re lucky, it doesn’t happen right away but sometimes birdfeeders become ‘killing fields’ because of opportunistic predators. A ‘something good’ turned into a ‘something really bad’.
Offering a small number of backyard birds a personal meal, tossed out by hand, at an unscheduled and sporadic timing seems a better way to prevent disaster while promoting a measured ‘greater good’. This sounds like a better immigration strategy for exactly the same reasons. Having a controlled and measured process is the far more humane approach.
It should also be noted that providing the birdseed needed for birdfeeders is expensive. I’ve had to give it up in order to buy my own necessities for that reason. (My bird feeding endeavors usually were only during migration periods offering passersby some support.) I felt bad but the art of ‘survival’ for anyone boils down to priorities of need in the proper order. Overwhelming our schools and public support systems seems a terribly self-defeating side-effect of something that (as I’ve described) doesn’t benefit the most people.
There you have it:
Open borders are not humane to anyone involved and ultimately birdfeeders seldom are either.
Sillyfrog's Blog 
If we created sufficient food resources in the bird’s natural environment, or rather stopped destroying what’s there with insecticide and efficiency measures, bird feeders might not be necessary. Likewise if foreign governments were supported in building their economies, perhaps would be immigrants would stay at home….. But in truth I have a somewhat idealogical philosophy based on ignorance of all the details
Certainly, a quick well-meant observation. We aren’t ultimately ‘in charge’ of (or responsible for) the natural world. We want to do well but our human arrogance (thinking we know best) is more often an additional problem rather than a cure. We definitely must curb any negative influences that we discover, like pesticides.
As for helping other countries with financial support, it sounds nice but totally disregards the human nature for greed. We’ve given too much of our hard earn money to ‘governments’ who just pad the pockets of the powerful. Those governments know how to make life better but why should they with constant handouts that we seem unwilling to monitor for fraud? It’s like the birds knowing how to find their own food when the birdfeeders aren’t available. I think the church groups and other NGOs do the most effective work when it comes to direct charity. We will never be able to ‘help’ worldwide efforts toward freedom and health if we destroy (bankrupt) ourselves, will we? It’s like keeping our mothers healthy. They are our best caregivers. We all lose when mama isn’t at the top of her game. IMHO…The positive influences the U.S. can have all stem from an “America First” philosophy. 😉
In my younger day, my mates and I would sometimes discuss various matters over a pint in the local pub – as we played darts. We would have considered your discussion a ‘three-pinter’ – in other words a damn complicated one – unlikely to be resolved by the end of the dart match! 😎
Yes! There are other ‘layers’ that I didn’t even mention too. Our ‘leaders’ obviously also find this too difficult to even take on! What are we paying them for exactly? I cannot decide if they’re lazy, incompetent, or selfish… it is probably all 3.
I’d enjoy a “three pinter” discussion with your crowd. Sounds like great group! ❤
but can you play darts! (though to be fair there isn’t a lot of skill involved, especially after the 3rd pint!)
I have played a few times. With a better than average hand/eye coordination and a competitive nature, I’d likely fit right in! lol
❤
‘180!’