A Fine Line

In Eleanor H. Porter’s 1913 novel, an orphan named Pollyanna takes center stage. With an unjustifiably optimistic attitude, this young lady’s name has come to describe a certain type of individual; namely, that a Pollyanna is a blindly or foolishly optimistic person.

With Pollyanna and her modern adherents having adopted such an approach to the things of life, which virtue might provide a counterbalance? How about the cardinal virtue of prudence, an insight which allows us to successfully distinguish between mere semblance and reality; a fine line, if you will.

In 1889, Carroll D. Wright was a prominent statistician employed by the U.S. government. That year, while addressing a Convention of Commissioners of Bureaus of Statistics of Labor, he commented on the exactness of figures, noting:

The old saying is that “figures will not lie,” but a new saying is “liars will figure.” It is our duty, as practical statisticians, to prevent the liar from figuring; in other words, to prevent him from perverting the truth, in the interest of some theory he wishes to establish.

To paraphrase Mr. Wright, when assessing a given situation, it is imprudent to choose a certain course of action without considering the potential outcomes of our decision. Echoing words spoken by former President George H. W. Bush, to proceed just “wouldn’t be prudent.”

When I was a child, I remember my father arriving home from work, turning off the car and leaving the keys in the ignition. Today, his decision appears foolish and imprudent. However, back in the 1960s, it was common practice to do just that. With so few robberies and a greater cultural adherence to the Golden Rule, what could go wrong? In those days, my parents also left our house door unlocked, even at night. With few home break-ins, their decision at the time was prudent. Today, one would never think of doing so. To once more quote President Bush, it just “wouldn’t be prudent.”

Which brings us to open borders, an imprudent practice advocated by the self-proclaimed devout Catholic and former president, Joseph R. Biden, who tied himself to a 2000 pastoral letter issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity.

Building upon multiple “calls” of the Church (to Conversion, Communion, Solidarity, and the New Evangelization), the pastoral letter closes with the words of St. Pope John Paul II spoken on June 2, 2000, during the Jubilee of Migrants and Itinerant People:

Like the disciples of Emmaus, believers, supported by the living presence of the risen Christ, become in turn the traveling companions of their brothers and sisters in trouble, offering them the word which rekindles hope in their hearts. With them they break the bread of friendship, brotherhood and mutual help. This is how to build the civilization of love. This is how to proclaim the hoped-for coming of the new heavens and the new earth to which we are heading. (no. 4)

All true! All beautiful!

Four years following the open borders experiment that began on Joseph Biden’s inauguration, in their February 2025 Pastoral Note to Migrants, the bishops of Michigan reiterated our duty as Christians (see 1 Peter 3:8) while also interjecting prudence into the mix when they wrote:

We urge our elected officials to support policies that keep immigrant and undocumented families safe and united, and to protect those who arrived as children. We call on the Michigan congressional delegation to work for a humane immigration system that welcomes refugees and immigrants by providing a fair pathway to citizenship; one that also keeps borders safe and secure from criminal activity, including human trafficking and the smuggling of illegal drugs.

A personal note. On 9/11/2001, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists who had entered the United States hijacked four American jetliners and murdered nearly 3,000 innocent people. For those who remember that day, we know that there were no words and a continuous question ringing in our heads: “How could something like this happen on American soil?” Six years later, while working as the business officer for a private school, the headmaster of our Lower School called to inform me that a “special” kindergartener had been selected by his peers to be “principal for the day.” Given this, he requested a meeting with the person (me) who could make a new swingset appear for him and his fellow students. After meeting with this kindergartener and taking careful notes, he and the headmaster left. An hour later, the headmaster called and told me that this little boy’s father had been killed in the World Trade Center. After concluding our call, I remember sitting for the longest time and thinking of how this boy, his widowed mother, and their family would forever mourn. Truly, there were no words.

So, Biden crossed a fine line. And by doing so, purposefully opened the spigots, called down border agents, and looked beyond immigration laws passed by the generosity of the American people, through their elected officials, to welcome the strangers among us. The major flaw, however, with this casual, look-the-other-way immigration strategy boils down to just one question that intersects both the national security and public safety of all Americans:

What if we don’t know who the strangers among us— are?

But, when we’re best friends with Pollyanna, what could go wrong?

Plenty.