Glass House

Perhaps borders provide an emotional boundary line as well as a geographic one. When we require a boundary or a border it is usually to protect ourselves from something or someone that we perceive of as different or “foreign.” We tend to be disturbed by people and things that are not the same as ourselves or with which we are not familiar. This may be why, even in foreign countries with exceptional native cuisine, tourists will still eat at MacDonald’s or Burger King. Because it is a relief and a respite to interact with what is known and, presumably, understood. It requires less of our active intelligence when we do not have to sort out information coming our way, interpret it and then act upon it while adjusting our actions based on the new information we are still processing.
By this logic, when we open our borders to “foreigners” we risk that we will be confronted by their differences and will be discomfited by this and forced to adjust and adapt. I think most of us realize that over time the differences will no longer seem so strange and we will begin to accept and integrate “the foreigners” into our world view. It is also probably less obvious but also another benefit that we are forced into adaptation. A life without adaptation is a life of complacency, frozen by comfort and fulfilled expectations. In such a posture we do not experiment or invent ideas, products, etc. that may help us in the long run. Intellectually we know that the process of adaptation and acculturation is the driving force behind our historic prosperity. Can we apply our historical perspective and personal experiences to our border policy? Can we not only become friends but also support a fair distribution of resources in exchange for the vitality that something new and "foreign" brings to us?

Posted by Laurie Feldman at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Borders are boundaries. We have boundary lines on our properties, usually marked by fences, hedges or some such visually apt evidence. They say “this is my side and that is yours...let’s stay where we belong.” We have less visible boundaries in our hearts and minds, no less important for being invisible. Sometimes after spending time with a person whose behavior we find distasteful we might say, “she crossed the line.” The line to which we refer is our personal, invisible and unpredictable boundary between what we are willing to accomodate and what we will not. There are many people who seem to have no knowledge of these border/boundaries within themselves or others. Commonly these are children or very young adults. When older adults are clueless on this issue they are sometimes seen as damaged but more often perceived of as pests or annoyances. They are emotionally impaired in a way that prevents then from identifying the boundary line in conversation or behavior before they are about to stumble across it.

Posted by Laurie Feldman at 09:23 PM | Permalink

Borders are a hot topic right now. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) wants them to be controlled. According to a recent GAO report, though, Homeland Security (of which INS is a part) has failed miserably in their mandate to keep this country secure. The report presumably included their poor management of our porous borders. INS mandates not withstanding, farmers and restauranteurs want the borders to be easier to cross, not harder. Apparently crops are rotting in the fields and dishes are going unwashed due to our hardass immigration policies which don’t seem to have had much effect on our security. Then we have the problem of people dying in trucks left locked (with them inside) in the middle of the desert, traffic accidents caused by INS pursuits and children being left permanently at daycares as their parents are deported. So one must ask the question: what is the benefit of this “sound and fury signifying nothing”?

Posted by Laurie Feldman at 12:34 AM | Permalink

Riding a bicycle on the roads around Chico is often a challenge. The most obvious problem are all the drivers of cars who are oblivious or actually hostile to bicycle riders. As best I can guess, being on my bicycle on the same road as a car is provocative to some drivers. I can’t really say what crosses their minds (maybe their minds are blank) but I can say that they act as if the roads belong to the cars and their drivers. This is nowhere more true than in a school zone.
This may strike you as strange. After all, aren’t schools where children hang out? And aren’t children the most unpredictable little devils to ever sit on a bike seat? And, here’s a news flash: some of them still ride their bikes to school. So they dodge between SUV’s and monster trucks, with the occasional Prius thrown in, cross at intersections without adequate traffic control (i.e. stoplights) and somehow still make it to their intended destinations, the schools of Chico. Where they face the greatest danger of all: the LATE-TO-WORK PARENT.
These are the parents of their classmates. The people who volunteer in the classrooms, bring them cupcakes on their child’s birthday and invite them to sleepover parties. Yet behind the wheel of a car, at 8:05 am, they become the bicycle-riding child’s worst nightmare. These parents arrive at school and block traffic to allow their special little someone to alight. They open and leave open their car doors while completing the ritual of the morning goodbye, which forces bike riders further out into the street. Then, having successfully delivered their own child to school, they are ready to go. Suddenly they are in a hurry and waiting for another parent’s child to cross the street apparently taxes their patience to the breaking point. So they pull out in front of the child or drive around him or her leaving inches between their car and the completely unprotected body of that youngster. Did I mention that children are unpredictable? I guess I must be in a small minority who think so to judge by the other parents who expect a 7 year old to stay upright on a bike and moving in a forward direction without a wobble or a wiggle.
We are lucky that our children make it to school and back every day under these conditions. Its no wonder that they want to abandon their bicycles for cars as soon as they reach driving age. If we were really committed to sustainability and reduction of ozone-depleting emissions we would start by honoring the intention of a School Zone and would avoid bringing our vehicles into them (i.e. park a block away and walk with your child to the classroom) and would then carefully navigate those vehicles when leaving the area, realizing that the young life you save may be your own (child).

Posted by Laurie Feldman at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)