Maria Arpa
This week
Twins Divided
Plus…
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
and
the Wednesday Whisper
Lunatic Leadership
When the system forgets that we are human
I heard this story on the radio while driving around Chicago.
A gay couple’s twins who were born 4 minutes apart applied for citizenship for their sons. The fathers, a married couple, one a US citizen and the other an Israeli citizen, are both listed on the birth certificates and legally are the exclusive parents of the boys, who shared a surrogate. But because Ethan has the DNA of the Israeli father and Aiden has the DNA of the US father, the government has denied Ethan US citizenship while granting it to Aiden.
The couple are suing the federal government in what should be a landmark case of inequality.
Clearly there are complexities and technical issues that need to be addressed, however what I am interested in for this week’s Lunatic Leadership is how the news was delivered. On the radio interview the fathers explained how the boys each received a letter. The first one for Aiden contained a passport and a welcome as a US citizen; the second one for Ethan contained a letter simply denying him US citizenship.
While I simply would have granted them both citizenship, I’m obviously no expert on the intricacies of US citizenship – but that isn’t the point I’m making.
The stupidity here is all the unnecessary suffering that ‘rules is rules’ causes. Surely, someone with more than one brain cell could have recognised that this as an unusual case and arranged a meeting to explain the difficulties with a view to finding ways to sort it out. And, it might be that at the end of discussions they would all agree to ask a court to make a ruling, but sending out those letters with no care for the impact is, for me, inhuman.
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness
As if to stop me in my tracks, I caught a bad dose of the flu this week. I had made my mind up to concentrate on one project for the week and found myself immersed in it. And, just as I was noticing the stress of self-imposed deadlines and reminding myself that I didn’t have to treat myself this way, I got that horrible tickly throat which within 24 hours descended into flu. And I found myself feeling a mixture of irritation for having to stop and gratitude for the chance to pause.
The Wednesday Whisper
What is your key priority this week and is it working for you?
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