Cedar Valley News — June 16

From the Editor’s Desk
By: Teresa Nikas, Editor
From the fictional town of Cedar Valley, where characters from Quiet Echo continue to respond to real-world events.

Over the weekend, the nation’s attention returned to the border.

A story broke Friday that more than 2,500 migrant children, many from Central America, have been separated from family members during recent enforcement actions along the southern U.S. border. The policy details are still unfolding, but the images have already arrived: children with solemn eyes, sleeping on mats under silver blankets, waiting in a country that promised something better.

The temptation, as always, is to argue before we understand. We reach for headlines that confirm our views. We gather talking points like shields. But before we retreat into the comfort of our own opinions, maybe we could pause and ask a harder question:

How would Cedar Valley welcome these children?

We are a town built on families — flawed, faithful, messy, and striving. We walk our kids to school, hold their hands when they cross Main Street, and whisper prayers over their fevered foreheads. We know what it means to love a child so deeply it rearranges your soul.

So what does it say about us — about any of us — if we can look at another child and see only a threat?

This isn’t about politics. This is about people. About children caught in a system…