The Blue Box – Things We Take for Granted

As part of his installation homily Archbishop Sean O’Mally used the following brief story about a the painful consequences of not understanding a different culture .When I was a young priest at the Centro Catolico in Washington, a Salvadoran refugee came into my office. He was crying uncontrollably.

He handed me a letter to read. It was from his wife berating him for having abandoned her and their eight children. He had come to Washington because wars were raging in his country. He came to send money back for his family. But after several months, his wife had not received any of the money he had been sending home, and his family was literally starving to death.

He told me how he washed dishes in two restaurants, ate the scraps of food from the dirty dishes rather than spend money. He walked to work so as not to spend money on bus fare. He sent all his earnings to his family each week.

I asked if he sent checks or money orders. He said: ‘I put cash in the envelope and drop it in the blue mail box on the corner.’

I looked out the window and saw that blue mail box. It was a spiffy trash bin, part of the District of Columbia’s beautification project.

It brought home to me how hard the lot of immigrants is in a strange land.

Not knowing the language and customs can cause such a sense of disorientation and alienation.