Migration

September 23, 2024

Living in New York State, there is a strong sense of anticipation of Autumn in the air. Disregarding the ensuing clamor of all the upcoming holiday festivities, the picturesque panorama of the changing colors in our landscapes and the prospects of lush aromas and the sounds of walking on fallen leaves — all these events present a breathtaking kaleidoscope of colors, and an overwhelming appreciation for God’s spectacular fulfillment of life throughout His Creation…

That is, of course, if one is living comfortably near the countryside and further away from the citified and often barren creations of Man — an environment mostly oozing aromas of cement and asphalt monoliths. Weeping emptiness, exuding the failures of Mankind’s technical prowess, cities are certainly a mixed bag — certainly not Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates.

The only artistic colors worth taking in are emanating from the people who live there, and unfortunately, often instead of beauty there are dark and colorless features dominating the view.

But I digress.

A foundation of this essay is found in the David Attenborough documentary “Breaking Boundaries” (youtube.com/watch?v=Gb6wQtNjblk). Everybody really need to watch it.

In fact, for me to convey my thoughts adequately, not only having that documentary under your belt, you should know that I would have to be writing several doctoral theses… but who has the time?

This time of year, we expect to see the familiar “V” formations of geese, getting ready to decide whether or not, this year, they are going on their instinct driven, annual, southerly migration. Honking their messages to one another, as is their unforgettable verbal style, they have to determine if they are going to not only stay at the State Park’s golf course by the river for the Winter or to follow their instincts in a more challenging southerly trek.

Bird migrations are quite spectacular here because we are actually right in the middle of a major bird migratory route.

Then, there is the more subtle dynamics but more impactful case of Human migrations.

This is where doctoral degrees would come in handy, but I barely even got a High School diploma. So, the readers will have to do their own research, I suppose.

Anyhoo… Birds, insects, mammals, even the fish in the sea, all migrate. They migrate for survival, but also to prosper — although they might not think of it as a matter of prosperity, they still do migrate.

However, why do human animals migrate?

Like their fellow vertebrates, survival tops the priority list.

I have read where the American peoples migrated long, long ago from Asia while there was still a land bridge to North America. They settled, populated, and managed to create civil societies throughout all of North America.

Environmental changes can also influence the human need to migrate. In the case of Europeans migrating to North America, it was both an opportunity and a necessity for survival. Opportunity masked the greed that would ensue when the Europeans discovered the richness of the land. Still, perhaps the most compelling reason for mass migration from Europe was socio-political in nature — due to the environments of persecutions and seemingly unrelenting religious wars. Maybe reading about overpopulation… but maybe not, since that would have been a more desperate instinct rather than a reasoned decision.

I mentioned greed. The nations that had been living here had developed civilizations that lived in harmony with the natural habitat. Oh, they still fought with each other infrequently for basic survival reasons: food, water, and the like. Still, they had learned to usually stay out of one another’s way.

On the other hand, the intense greed, self-importance, and boundless covetousness of the migrating Europeans resulted in mass extermination through the genocide of the indigenous Nations that were here long before the people moving in from Europe.

From World History, Europe had a variety of socio-political structures, organizing peoples into tribes, city states, empires, and on and on. There was a steady ebb and flow of development, but there was a humongous transformation when the Industrial Revolution came around.

You know, the greatest tech came from the Romans. Water Supply. Cement. and most of all Indoor Plumbing.

Okay, okay… Back to my essay…

Human migration…

Biblically, referencing the first mass Human migration from Mesopotamia, it resulted from the Tower of Babel — a tech marvel in itself. A human feat that God could see was fraught with moral dangers.

The attitude from then til now has been, “So what?”

Yes. Time marches on, and we’re pretty much in love with ourselves and our technical prowess. So, forward, onward, and upward…

But I’m drifting again…

Today, human migration has become more complex, because there aren’t many places, if any, left to migrate to! In fact, the world is already overpopulated, running out of natural resources, suffering from our own tech inventions, and threatened with extinction from the intellectual and actual pollution from our many industrial revolutions.

Is this really progress?

Next, I think the undergirding plan is to migrate to Outer Space. You know, find planets that support life — especially human life. Easy peasy. Right? Yeah, right.

Have you traveled to the Universe lately? Outside the Milky Way Galaxy? Do you know that it takes five years just to get to Saturn?

We seem to have run out of places in the whole Universe to possibly migrate to… Yet, we place all our hopes (and riches) in Spaceship Tech…

Notwithstanding all that, just speaking within the confines of Planet Earth, the current migrations from North Africa and the Middle East to Europe presents new difficulties. Europe has been settled for a long, long time, and each nation has distinct cultures developed over the centuries, and their populations are socio-political singularities and are at capacity.

The immigrants are not coming to Europe to become Europeans. No. They are fleeing war, and death, and destruction, and destitution. I suppose, as some might say, they should have the stomach to defend their own countries, and besides the fact remains that they haven’t any intent to become Europeans.

However, they have no capacity to change the unfortunate situations in their homelands. Keep in mind that, for example, the European migrants to this country had real weapons. Today’s migrants to Europe have nothing like that — they are escaping with little clothing and meager possessions.

What are they supposed to do?

The first thought I had when I saw the dilemmas this modern migration was causing was the fact that Europe isn’t North America. It’s not a developing Land. There is no room for disparate cultures. No expanding job market. No budget for free healthcare for everyone… and I think that that dynamic is not Europeans being selfish. It is just Reality calling.

There is a strict limit on how far their hospitality can go. After all, the migrants are not wanting to become Swedes, or Italians, or French, or Germans. So, that becomes a real barrier to settlement.

The extant danger is, of course, the temptation to yield to prejudices and persecutions. That ugliness is not the solution, and we have seen where that whole tact takes people, even this Nation.

On the other hand, America is a nation of immigrants. Again, it became unfortunate for the Nations living here before us. However, it is now what it is, and here exists the capacity and the structure for immigrants migrating here for all the common reasons. The difference is that unlike migrations to Europe, they want to eventually become part of this melting pot.

Irish, Italians, all Europeans and Asians and others have come here before. They may have maintained their culture and heritage for decades, but their children eventually become an integral part as citizens, even serving in our protective Armed Forces, and becoming economic contributors, making educational progress, and basically carrying their own weight.

Oh, there are some of the same difficult dynamics as in Europe, like prejudice, but unlike Europe, the economic burdens here are temporary, and in time, it reverses. For example, have you been to a healthcare provider lately? In a hospital, for example, you may never encounter any people who you recognize as “your own kind,” but they are going to extremes to save your life.

Migration. In Nature, it’s an interactive phenomenon that benefits all living things. Why do we Humans make it out to be such a problem? A lack of imagination? Our selfishness and greed? What exactly would you say?

We may be running out of room to grow, but is our intellect also running out of room to grow? For example, we have an emerging and expansive capacity to assuage the problems initiating mass migrations — at their source. I don’t think most people want to leave their homes, their homelands, or their neighborhoods. This kind of sustainable economic agrarian, and socio-political development would, at least, minimize people’s needs to migrate. Big job? Yes. Are we capable? Yes. Are we willing?

Anyways, look… All of Nature participates in migrations. It actually strengthens all populations.

This country is unique in the fact that in accepting human migration, our population, as well as theirs, is likewise strengthened.

Seems like a mutually profitable venture to me…and who doesn’t like profitable?

It’s a morally righteous thing, too…and who doesn’t like doing right?