Working for a Coyote
Dear Steven, Well, it’s another 24 months behind bars for you. I would like to think this time you’ll see the error of your ways and make real changes in your life. That you’ll see that there are things bigger in the world than your next score.
I wonder how we turned out so different. We grew up together. We both come from middle class families. We’re first cousins. We were friends. I chose church, marriage, kids, and an education. But you chose to lie, steal, cheat, do drugs, and work for a coyote.
I remember when we were younger I used to love going over to your house to swim. I remember us getting in trouble because we got caught jumping off the roof of your house and into the pool. I remember going over to grandma and grandpa’s house and playing cops and robbers with all of the cousins. How grandma ever put up with all fifteen of us I’ll never know. Grandpa would just kick our butts if we got out of line.
Maybe I should have known that we would take different paths. I remember the time you went to church with my family and started singing “Delta Dawn” by country singer Tanya Tucker, in the middle of prayer. I also remember when you tried to burn your elementary school down so you wouldn’t have to go to school. And the time you got caught breaking into our dad’s work place when you were only thirteen years old. I guess the signs were there. The last time we talked was at the family get together at Christmas Eve 2012. You told me how you were sad that my mom had passed away because she was the only one who believed you could turn your life around.
Was my mother right? She believed in you even after you stole from her house. Gone was her computer, some money, jewelry, and a pocket watch with little monetary value.
But that watch was a gift from my sister to my father on her wedding day. My father thinks you are no good and would like to see you rot away in jail. My mother thought you did what you did because of outside influences. She believed if you had the opportunity to change you would. Will you? Will you prove her right and my father wrong?
I talked to your father the other day about your latest run-in with the law. He thinks you were being kind hearted to some poor souls looking to better their lives here in the United States. But you and I both know you were just trying to raise some cash to feed your many addictions. I read in the Border Patrol report that you left six illegals in the back of a Jeep outside of Niland, in August, because you got nervous.
It made me think of an essay I read for a class I’m taking. The essay is about a guy who got nervous because he was transporting an illegal alien. The essay by Ruben Martinez, called The Crossing, is about his own experience with an illegal alien. He was not trying to help humanity. He was not trying to change the world. He was in the desert looking for a story (607, 19). He found one of those poor souls looking for help (608, 26).
He found a man who had been left behind by a smuggler like you. The man was a diabetic and in need of help (609, 30). He could have walked away not wanting to get involved with a complex situation. He could have talked to the man and gotten his story and then left the man to fend for himself. But he saw a man, a person, a fellow human being. So what he did was help this man.
He gave the man food (609, 31) and transportation (610, 36). His desire to help this individual makes him more like a Samaritan, and not a coyote (610, 35). He did this knowing he was taking a risk with the law.
Steven, I share this story with you not put you down but to help you understand how your selfish act hurts other people, as well as yourself.
But breaking the law has consequences. I’m sure by now you’re fully aware of this. Martinez was also aware of this. He was tempted to drive this man to a safe haven, called Ark of the Covenant (612, 50), or even 100 miles away to Phoenix (610, 42) so that the man could continue on his trek. But Martinez did not have the nerve to do what he thought would be the best thing for the man he was helping.
Martinez was afraid that his actions would get himself thrown in jail. He wanted to take him to the Ark of the Covenant, where they could help this man. But he didn’t want them to get in trouble either, because they were already being watched by the Border Patrol. He thought if he let the man go into the desert on his own that the man would die (613, 63).
So he took the only option that he thought was available to him. He gave him over to the Border Patrol. Martinez didn’t like the option because he knew the man would be sent back to his home in El Salvador. A place where poverty and crime run rampant (611, 48).
Martinez was torn. He wasn’t sure if he did the right thing. He wasn’t sure if he did the wrong thing (613, 65). But what I know is that he didn’t just completely abandon this man. His actions were somewhat self-centered, because he was nervous. But your actions were completely self-centered.
Steven, your actions hurt those who you were transporting. Your actions hurt your family. Your actions hurt yourself. How can you live your life with giving so little regard for other people? Do you not have a conscience? Have you lived your life this way for so long that your heart has grown callused?
You claimed you were talked into this buy a coyote. You claim you got nervous and wanted out. But you didn’t tell the six people laying down in the back of Jeep, in August, that you were leaving them and never coming back. You didn’t call the coyote to come take them. You didn’t even call the Border Patrol to come pick them up. You called your girlfriend to get you out of there.
You exploit people. You take advantage of others. You look out only for yourself. If you could take all that energy you put into illegal endeavors and put it into helping others you would be very successful. I know you have the aptitude. You used to do very well in school, when you were not getting into trouble.
You could earn the respect of others. You could earn their trust. You could actually have a prosperous career. You could be a positive role model for your kids. And you wouldn’t be in prison, again.
I know there are those like your father who will try to justify your actions. They say you were doing the wrong thing for the right reason. But if you were really trying to help you would donate your time to make sure people didn’t get harmed by that August heat that you left those poor souls in.
You could help by giving your voice to help change immigration laws. Instead you just try to get around the laws. It’s not too late for you to change your ways. My mom believed in you. Now only if you could believe in yourself.
I guess I’ll see you at the family gathering on Christmas Eve, 2016.