This week residents of this great nation have mourned the death of former presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain, with statements and gestures of honor coming from all kinds regardless of party or camp.

We were touched by the words he left to be read after his departing, shared by his former presidential campaign manager and family spokesman Rick Davis on Monday.

These words, in particular, stood out.

“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been.”

His words “We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down” remind us in a figurative and literal way of the recent story of a Ben Lomond High School graduate and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient the Standard-Examiner staff had the opportunity to get to know over the course of four months.

Beginning in 2012, certain individuals who came to the U.S. as children and meet certain guidelines could request consideration of deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal. Among those guidelines are that the individual had to be under the age of 31 as of June 2012, must have arrived in the U.S. before turning 16, had no lawful status as of June 15, 2012, were currently in school or obtained a GED and not have committed felonies or significant misdemeanors. As reported, when President Donald Trump was a candidate, he campaigned on rescinding DACA. In September 2017, 10 months after being elected, he fulfilled that campaign promise. This month a federal judge ruled that the government does not have to accept new DACA applications, however the judge asked that the government continue to process renewal applications.

There are 8,900 DACA recipients in Utah, as of September 2017.

On Sunday, reporter Sergio Martinez-Beltran introduced us to Carolina Rodriguez, a new, hard-working Weber State University student who is determined in her goal of becoming a pediatrician while navigating newfound adulthood as a DACA recipient.

As a four-year-old, Carolina, with the help of two Caucasian American women, crossed the U.S. border illegally; her mother had made the trek from Mexico to the U.S. a few days prior.

We do not condone entering the country illegally, but we feel it is counterintuitive to withdraw support from educated, law-abiding youth and young adults — who had no control over what transpired in their childhood — who are working hard to participate in DACA and have found success in it. While those opposed to DACA might believe it encouraged illegal immigration or hurts the American workforce, evidence has yet to be put forth to prove that. Rather, many economists believe DACA strengthens the American workforce. And not only does it have the greater ability to strengthen the workforce, but it has the ability to strengthen us as communities.

Just look at Carolina. At a young age she has already taken on the responsibility of being a great force for change in the circles she frequents. She served in her school student government, spent all her summer days working at the local Boys and Girls Club, and heading into her first university semester will work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Carolina’s story is not unusual.

As McCain alluded to on a national level and is equally applicable locally, in the age of social media we can often and easily vilify each other, but we have much more in common than different when we take the time to sit down and listen to another’s story.

“We are three-hundred-and-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals,” McCain’s letter read. “We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.”