Mexico

I struggle to begin to describe what I have seen and experienced here on the border in just one week. It has started to sink in that this isn't just a trip. This is the real deal. Considering the position I'm in, there is no way to hide the realities of the border. As I ride my bike parallel to the border on my way to the US from Mexico, I see that the fence stretches as far as the eye can see, and further still. That being said I'm reminded of a plaque which is mounted inside the Statue of Liberty. It comes from a sonnet called "The New Colossus."

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

I wonder if we have forgotten who we are, and how most of us arrived to this country. And I wonder if we are still willing to accept tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Its not that these people don't exist, just yesterday I met several men who were walking in the desert for two days in search of something better. After they were caught by the Border Patrol and repatriated they found their way to the Migrant Resource Center where we gave them food and drink and some basic medical care. In my week here on the border there has been no shortage of hospitality, as people who might be considered tired and poor by the standards of Charleston, SC have said without fail, mi casa es tu casa. That phrase may sound cliche, but it is used and adhered to here in Mexico. These people have strong conviction about hospitality. The family I have been staying with recites a verse from Matthew every time they sit down to eat. Love the Lord with all your heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.
I can't offer an answer to solve the problem on the border, but I know that it is no secret that each one of us is called to love our neighbor as we would love ourselves. If you're hungry, do you feed yourself? If your family is hungry, do you feed them? If your feet hurt, do you prop them up and rest? As members of humanity, regardless of religious affiliation, I feel we should be more willing to heed the call to help our neighbors. A good fence does not a good neighbor make. It only protects us from taking the plunge and risk of becoming involved in someone else's life, and maybe making a difference.
I'll conclude this by telling the story of a guy name Juan Luis. Juan Luis is the director of an organization which specializes in Perma Culture (I suggest looking it up). He promotes self sustainability within the community, and becoming more independent consumers of energy and food. Juan Luis strolls around the compound of DouglaPrieta Trabaja (or DouglaPrieta Works) and is beaming with pride about the gardens that are being grown in the desolate desert soil. The environment surrounding Juan Luis, and every one else here, is not great. In fact sometimes it can seem hopeless. But to see beans and tomatoes sprouting out of the dry dirt of Agua Prieta will give any one hope. Hope that there is a way of making things better. Hope that one day the situation at the border will be a little more fair. And faith in the people who live down here and have no option but to be hopeful.