KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
SATURDAy, JUNE 25, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
A tip of
the hat to
the area’s
graduates
W
e salute the host of area college
and high school graduates who
strolled across the stage this
month, clutching their diplomas.
While graduation is certainly a recog-
nized rite of passage, it is also a time of
reflection and hope. Now, more than ever,
we need every area graduate.
Lofty goals and sentiments are often
legion during graduation — as they should
be — but the basic fact remains that the
nation, the state and the local community
needs every one of those graduates to step
out into the adult world with a goal to make
a difference.
It may appear easy to dismiss the notion
that a single person can make an impact but
the truth is each young man and woman
who walks off the graduation stage this
month can make a difference.
And we need those who want and can
make a difference.
At a time when the nation is rife with
division, where discord is consumed
like an energy drink, America, Oregon,
Umatilla and Morrow counties need young
people who still retain the determination
of their youth. People who are ready and
eager to step up and seek change.
Our greatest resource as a nation is our
youth.
Our prospects, our opportunities for
success as a county, state and nation, rest
on the hopes and desires of our young
people.
Our young are the agents of our future
and the potential they represent is as valu-
able as any new policy, law or idea.
Granted, we remain the greatest nation
on earth in terms of goals and values,
and at no time in our shared history has
chances of a happy life for our youth been
more acute than now.
Yet challenges, risks, also remain for our
youth. There is no way to deny the chal-
lenges the nation — and the state — face
are significant. The perceived problems
stack up easily, solutions often are fleeting.
That is why the views and ambitions
of those who have just graduated are so
important to our collective prosperity. We
need every one of the new graduates to feel
they can make a difference, that they can
help their community, their state and even
their nation.
We salute every single graduate from
Blue Mountain Community College and
all of our area high schools but we hope
that they will be able to move ahead in life
with a calm but steady resolve to give back
to their community and spark change for
the good of all.
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East
Oregonian editorial board. Other columns,
letters and cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not necessarily that
of the East Oregonian.
LETTERS
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of 400 words or less on public issues and public
policies for publication in the newspaper and on
our website. The newspaper reserves the right
to withhold letters that address concerns about
individual services and products or letters that
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Unsigned letters will not be published.
SEND LETTERS TO:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801
Standing with and helping world’s refugees
BARBARA
CLARK
A SLICE OF LIFE
ow did you observe United
Nations World Refugee Day,
celebrated on June 20 since
2001? How have I missed it until now
and I’m wondering if the word “cele-
brate” is an appropriate word to use in
connection with being a refugee?
I’ve discovered it is dedicated to
honor the courage and resilience of
refugees around the world and I like the
word “dedicated” better than “cele-
brated.” World Refugee Day was first
held globally to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the 1951 Convention on
the Status of Refugees. Now the global
refugee crisis is reported worse than
it has ever been, with more than 100
million refugees on the move.
Watching evening news, I see Ukrai-
nians fleeing that war and I struggle
to see “celebration.” The Ukrainian
situation eclipsed the Afghan flight
from the Taliban takeover, which then
eclipsed the Syrian/Lebanon upheaval
— all happening to people on the move
to escape violence, poverty, civil war,
famine, injustice, and then becom-
ing refugees from places like Yemen,
Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Ethiopia, the Caribbean, Central
America and more.
From the time I was young I wanted
to see and experience how the rest of
the world lived. During my life I’ve had
the opportunity to spend time enjoying
hospitality in many countries includ-
H
ing Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon,
Syria and Central America. After my
Peace Corps stint in East Africa and my
Middle East travels overland in local
transport during the 1960s, I concluded
that most people the world over have
much in common, more in common than
in differences, and it’s the different ways
we express what we have in common
that makes life fascinating.
Refugees have survived a vari-
ety of circumstances – war, poverty,
floods, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis –
many different situations. And in most
cases they have lost everything. From
my experiences I feel that hospitality,
compassion and empathy must be guid-
ing principles in our response.
To understand the issues of refugees
and immigration during this past decade,
I’ve joined study groups to a number of
the nations involved. During a visit to a
United Nations Refugee Camp in north-
eastern Syria bordering Iraq and Turkey,
I heard a horrific story of women and
children who had been captured. Their
ISIS captors killed the children and
forced their mothers and grandmothers
to drink their children’s blood.
Hearing that, I understood why
people leave everything behind to
survive, escape the unbelievable, find a
place to heal and hopefully find peace.
In El Salvador, two young women
whose goal was to leave behind a
future of destitution and gang warfare
shared their experiences. Their hope
was to come to the United States to live
the “American Dream.” They made it
through Guatemala to Mexico and had
enough money to hire a “coyote” to take
them to the U.S. border. Instead, he took
them in the dark of night to a garage
where he raped and trapped them in with
another woman he had hidden there. The
other woman complained, he killed her,
locked the garage and left.
Days passed, a person nearby heard
their screams and was able to open the
door. They fled and journeyed back to
El Salvador. One soon discovered she
was pregnant. Her first thought was to
get an abortion, she wasn’t able, and as
she spoke her toddler was playing by her
side. Both women cried as they told their
stories and explained that they felt forced
to live, as difficult and violent as it might
be, in their home country.
The question for me now is there a
way to stand with the world’s 100-plus
million people who are on the move
seeking safety, security, a better life and
peace?
During the past month members and
friends of several local churches in Pend-
leton and Hermiston joined together in
both person and on Facebook. Their goal
is to examine ways we, as communities
in Eastern Oregon, can become involved
to welcome, stand with and respond to
the needs of refugees and immigrants.
There have been three meetings with
more questions than answers, that ended
on a positive hope that organizations,
churches and individuals over the next
few months might come together to
reach out with a response.
Then, perhaps we can “celebrate”
World Refugee Day.
———
Barbara Clark is a teacher with a
broad variety of experience interna-
tionally and domestically at primary
and secondary levels, Blue Mountain
Community College and Eastern Oregon
Correctional Institution.
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office: 541-962-7691
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
REPRESENTATIVES
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Cliff Bentz
2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford office: 541-776-4646
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us