Hate and fear are taught

I was recently hospitalized with a serious infection. Many of the people who took care of me and helped me get my health back are immigrants — doctors, nursing staff, the woman who drew my blood every morning, the woman who cleaned my hospital room, the people who brought me my meals, to say nothing of those I never met who cooked my meals and administered, processed, analyzed, and reported results of my numerous tests.

The day after the election I woke up early and checked my cellphone to learn the outcome of the presidential election. I wept in grief and embarrassment to learn that half my fellow citizens had voted for a man whose campaign was based on hatred and who spewed cruel, vile, ugly and violent rhetoric targeting immigrants. I wept in sorrow to realize that half my fellow citizens seem to be wearing blinders and cannot see the beauty and value of the gifts that immigrants bring to enrich our communities and contribute to a lively economy.

Let each of us take off our narrow blinders and look around at our beautiful and diverse world, with an open heart to those who are “not like us.” Let us teach our children and grandchildren to appreciate the diversity in their classrooms, on their playgrounds, and in our communities. As the Rogers and Hammerstein song in their 1949 Broadway musical, South Pacific, says, “You’ve got to be carefully taught to hate and fear.” Children are not born hating anyone.

Ann Stromquist

Iowa City