For me, the refugee experience is something that should never be politicized or used to exploit fear and anger, it is a sacred part of the American experience, an elemental part of citizenship, a pure expression of who we are and who we wish to be.

We are all immigrants in America, but I see that some are closer to the experience than others, we each bring out own experience to it. America saved me and much of my family by welcoming us, I will not forget them, and will pay this back, given the chance.

And here is the chance. Some new refugees are coming her shortly, and I am told – this is the good news – that relief agencies are flooded with volunteers We are a good-hearted people, given the chance. This is a chance.

I intend to live in a Post-Argument world, I have no arguments to make, no judgments to make of others, I want to do good, and so does Maria in the way that calls to us and touches our souls. This work is a gift to me, to her.

But that is just me, there are now many people who see it as dangerous and threatening, and who have made helpless and innocent people the object of great fear and uncertainty, even persecution. Some of these people are now very powerful.

I am not powerful, at least not beyond my words and photos, and I do intend to show that words have their own power. I have seen it again and again, it is up to me.

There has always been a strain of American life that has feared and struggled with the idea of immigration, that is neither new or foreign to our democracy. It seems to have been an ugly fever that passes in time.

Americans listen to good angels and not-so-good angels, we all have to follow our hearts, I will not interfere with the way of life of other people.

I’m not sure the enemies of immigration have ever been quite so ascendant of powerful as they are now, all the more reason to move forward and prove them wrong. I strongly believe that Americans have big and generous hearts, and that spirit will prevail. For me, the faces of the new refugees are not the faces of terror or danger, but the faces of hope and trust – they trust in us, and the idea of us.

They are not the other, but us. They have the same fears, worries, hopes that we do, they are here to be safe and give their families a chance to live in peace and safety. This is what our grandparents and great-grandparents did. We are bigger than this.  If we cannot give them that, then we are broken, and the angels will abandon us. If we are not strong about this, then we are weak.

I hope to honor the trust of these immigrants, to help them see that the American dream lives in the hearts and spirits of so many of us.  I have made contact with the United States Committee on Refugees and Immigration, a number of new refugees are coming to upstate New York, near where I live. They need help and volunteers. I’m in.

I hope to connect with a family, support them, tutor them, sponsor them, photograph them, and hopefully, write about them, with their permission. How sad it is that this is a difficult and fraught thing to do in our society, the refugees live in fear, not of the tyrants they fled, but of us and our increasingly distorted ideas about them. I have to make sure they are safe and protected, if the committee agrees.

I need and wish to do this in a way that is both authentic and sensitive and safe. I spoke this morning with a wonderful woman who works with the USCRI in Albany, New York. We could not have been more in sync, we touched hearts and ambitions. My wish is to share this journey into humanity and compassion with you, the readers of my blog, now millions strong.

I think I can use the blog to do some good, I hear the better angels in me and out there singing to me, and calling to me. We are better than this, I am better than this, and I hope to show others that this is a journey of good, a patriotic journey, a celebration of what is best about our country.

I’ve invited some volunteers and others to come to the farm and meet with us. We are excited. I ask only that people open their hearts and minds, their choices are theirs. I am not here to tell others what to do.

I’ll keep  you posted and will share this journey as openly and authentically as I can and am permitted to do.