HPLA Charities is committed to helping Latino individuals and families by offering safe housing, connecting them with community resources, and creating opportunities for lasting stability. Our mission is built on dignity, empowerment, and service.

A Little Rant — Take It or Leave It

Forgive me, or don’t. My following wouldn’t fill a thimble, but I hope those of you who are here will share this.

First — language. Yes, today’s vocabulary includes some rough words. Use them or don’t, but don’t let them define you or your path. Words alone won’t condemn you. What will is the division we’ve allowed to fester in this country, and to those who deliberately stoke it, I’ll say plainly: you are not acting like an American.

Being an American means understanding — whether you like it or not — that citizenship isn’t defined by skin color, religion, or bloodline. It never was. And as for God? There is one. Call that presence whatever you want, picture it however makes sense to you. But the self-appointed prophets and loudmouthed gatekeepers of faith have done nothing but deepen the divide. Any person — or religion — that claims to hold the only truth is telling you more about their ego than their enlightenment. Strip away the doctrine, love your neighbor as yourself, treat the people around you the way you treat those closest to your heart, and you’ve got the best religion there is. If you can’t find love for the people in your life, you’re standing on the wrong side of the line.

Now — to the person who has hurt the one you love most in this world: forgiveness may be beyond human reach, and that’s okay. You don’t have to forgive. Walk away. Cut them off. But don’t retaliate. That’s exactly what we’re being manipulated into doing right now — as individuals, as communities, as a nation. Retaliation is the tool being used against us. We are better than that. As a people, as a country, as a world — we should refuse it.

Let’s talk about where we actually start to fix things: put a price tag of zero on anything that prevents a human being from meeting their basic needs. Maslow mapped it out — food, shelter, safety, belonging. Start there. I’m speaking to Americans because, for better or worse, we are still leading this world. If we get it right, others will follow. If we don’t, we’ll drag everyone down with us.

I am genuinely appalled that human beings continue to kill one another over land they believe their God gave them. There is no sacred ground. There is only ground. If that statement offends you, I’d ask you to sit with why — because the answer likely lives in something you were taught, not something you chose. My thinking isn’t perfect. I’ll own that. But division doesn’t come from disagreement — it comes from the refusal to question what we’ve been handed.

Here’s my request: let go, just for a moment, of everything you’ve been told to fear. Look at the people around you and offer them something genuine — not out of duty or expectation, but simply real, no-strings-attached care. Truly care about their well-being. Create something together. And when anyone tries to tell you that a certain group is your enemy, your danger, your threat… stop. Ask yourself who gains from you believing that. It probably isn’t you.

Saint Patrick’s Day is next week so please use the words above and apply them to those around you. The folklore of the removal of snakes by St Patrick is a perfect illustration of how we can remove the real snakes in congress via the vote but at the same time using the Shamrock to explain the trinity and the teaching of love and peace of all the teachers who serve & work for your God.

HPLAC Charities is working hard to help people with just a few volunteers, an unpaid staff, and limited donations. But every little bit counts. Multiply that by everyone in the world, and it can make a huge difference in moving us toward a better place. We can achieve even more with your financial support at http://www.hplacharities.org/donate.