Official figures and analyses from specialized media outlets agree: the national economy is on the right track. The consistent job creation and the strength of economic indicators foster a climate of cautious optimism.
According to Deloitte’s US Economic Forecast, the current economic optimism is supported by a dynamic labor market, high levels of consumption, and a positive balance in exports. Investments and government spending also drive the economy, with expectations of overall growth of 2%, surpassing the 1.5% forecasted months ago.
However, this positive outlook does not benefit everyone equally. Minorities, immigrants, families in the process of regularizing their immigration status, and various sectors of the Hispanic community remain significantly more vulnerable, especially in the face of job insecurity and the increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric.
For both long-standing immigrants and those more recently arrived, challenges can sometimes seem insurmountable. But there is no obstacle that cannot find a solution when we work together, pooling resources, ideas, and talents to address needs with solutions commensurate with the circumstances.
The global migration crisis is of particular relevance in the United States in a presidential election year. It is known that the majority of Latinos do not vote, and those who do, do not vote in unison. Furthermore, polarization within the Hispanic community has increased, but we must not allow differences in perspective to impede dialogue.
If it is already difficult to dialogue about sensitive issues, today we face new challenges. One of them is the loss of the ability to communicate effectively due to the dependence generated by the digital age. We are often connected to cyberspace through screens, but disconnected from our immediate environment.
We find ourselves in a kind of submission to the epidemic of self-inflicted «scoliosis» that is robbing us of the joy of friendship, greeting, embracing, and interest in those around us; we prefer impersonal contact with a stranger, with whom we play video games, gamble, or simply chat.
The invitation made by Will García, whose story we present this week, is precisely to convene, gather, overcome differences, and unite forces. Will has worked on many fronts driven by his believer’s vision, his conviction that faith communities have tremendous wealth due to their community commitment and their vision of brotherhood among human beings, which can be a great engine for rebuilding relationships and the sense of interdependence and responsibility we have for one another.
In this week when thousands of believers celebrated Christian Easter, in commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, more and more federal government officials and other officials admit to being people of faith and confess that their faith has given them a purpose in life, as well as strength, inspiration, conviction, and determination to ensure that values of compassion, harmony, solidarity, and generosity do not disappear.
