2023
June
15
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

June 15, 2023
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Husna Haq
Home Forum editor

We never celebrated Father’s Day growing up. Born in a modest home in 1940 as one of 10 kids to pragmatic parents in Hyderabad, India, my dad didn’t grow up celebrating the many Hallmark holidays we’re accustomed to today. In fact, at that time, many people didn’t even know their exact birthday, much less have big celebrations. 

So Dad, who immigrated to the United States in 1967, was oddly immune to those pleasures other dads around us enjoyed, like beach vacations or fancy cars. What motivated him was a mystery to me.

Once, on a family road trip, he made sure we hit all the favorites for everyone in the family – a garden and gift shop for my mom and sister, a theme park with death-defying roller coasters for my brother and other sister. On the drive back home, I asked him what his fun was on this trip. His face lit up as he responded, “Seeing all of you happy!”

He seemed to have a similar approach to life. 

Like helping several of his siblings immigrate to the U.S., filling out endless paperwork, and supporting them in finding housing, schooling, and jobs. 

Like helping relatives move from state to state countless times, driving U-Hauls and hauling boxes. 

Like volunteering as a chaplain at Syracuse University and local hospitals, driving an hour to campus after a full day’s work as an engineer, stopping at home to pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for his dinner. 

Like helping his youngest daughter through a mid-pandemic move and pregnancy, bringing me home-cooked meals and boxes full of practical gifts like toothpaste, pantry goods, and vitamins – all while enduring grueling health challenges. 

My dad died two years ago. Though he never wanted gifts, he left us with so many. And I’m starting to think that was his secret. He found joy in giving – in ways big or small, recognized or not, always with a smile.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Mariam Zuhaib/AP/File
Demonstrators stand outside the Supreme Court, as the court hears arguments over the Indian Child Welfare Act on Nov. 9, 2022, in Washington. On June 15, the justices ruled 7-2 to uphold the Native adoption law.

Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling upholds a Native adoption law that tribes see as critical to their cultural survival after decades of children being stripped from their families. Dissenting justices say it puts tribal welfare over the best interests of the child.

Patterns

Tracing global connections

Indictments against Donald Trump and parliamentary sanctions against Boris Johnson are efforts by traditional systems to rein in men who are more personal brand than politician.

Erika Page/The Christian Science Monitor
Julio Franchi and Ian Cháves sit near their home in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, May 18, 2023. The two met in a square four years ago and are now father and son.

Not everyone plans to become a parent. But when Julio Franchi met a boy in need of a father figure, his heart grew to meet the challenge.

Commentary

Erik Verduzco/AP
Debbie Jamison (right) and her daughter Precious leave balloons at a memorial for Cyrus Carmack-Belton June 2, 2023, in Columbia, South Carolina. The Black 14-year-old was shot and killed by a store owner who wrongly suspected him of shoplifting, according to a police investigation.

The killing of a Black middle schooler for no apparent reason reminds our contributor of too many similar losses. What could prove that Black lives matter?

On Film

Focus Features/AP
Scarlett Johansson is featured in the cast of writer-director Wes Anderson's latest film, "Asteroid City," set in 1955 at a Junior Stargazers convention.

The latest movie from Wes Anderson features the ingenuity and absurdity he’s known for. But more so than his other recent films, this one is fused with an undercurrent of emotion. 


The Monitor's View

Reuters
A migrant disembarks the Geo Barents rescue ship, operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), in Bari, Italy, March 26.

In the past two years, the European Union has made so much progress on difficult problems – Ukraine’s war refugees, energy security from Russian extortion, and the pandemic – that it has built up a reservoir of trust among its 27 member states. Now the bloc is tapping that heightened harmony to tackle one of its most emotional issues: a wave of migrants into Europe’s southern countries.

On Wednesday, the EU was given a vivid reminder why it must stem the flow of people across the Mediterranean Sea in search of safety or work. A boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized off the coast of Greece, leaving at least 79 dead. Such tragedies reflect the fact that the number of people risking to take the dangerous voyage has reached a six-year high. Italy has had nearly four times the number of “irregular” arrivals from two years ago, mainly from troubled Tunisia.

On June 8, the EU’s interior ministers reached a surprise agreement on how to divide responsibility for solving the crisis. The southern “front-line” states will need to improve the way they deal with migrants while all states will be obligated to take in at least 30,000 asylum-seekers a year – or else pay a fine of €20,000 ($21,600) per migrant. The money will be used to support the front-line states.

Then on June 11, the EU offered a financial package to Tunisia to stop the smugglers and to rebuild its economy, which has suffered under authoritarian leader Kais Saied. Tunisia has until the end of June to decide whether to take the package, which appears linked to a possible rescue loan from the International Monetary Fund.

In the long run, helping the Middle East and Africa end their conflicts and reduce poverty will be the best solution for migration. Aid from the EU will help. But so will European leaders getting their own house in order. The more trust they build with each other, the more they can be both compassionate and firm with migrants fleeing their countries.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

A willingness to give up pride and willfulness and to instead lean on God, Spirit, empowers us to more freely feel and experience God’s goodness and love.


Viewfinder

Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
Sooraj, a fisher and diver, pulls a large tarp to cover his belongings as rain clouds build ahead of Cyclone Biparjoy, in Karachi, Pakistan, June 15, 2023. Anticipating damage to homes as well as infrastructure, Pakistan and India each evacuated about 100,000 people from threatened coastal areas as the category storm made landfall Thursday. It was expected to weaken after midnight local time.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today. Please come back tomorrow for a special Daily issue that both honors Juneteenth and marks the launch of a new Monitor series about the reparations debate. What does it mean for a society to atone for systemic and enduring harms?

More issues

2023
June
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