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