Wall of Self Deception

I understand why so many citizens want to see a wall constructed along our southern border. Having traveled to Europe in 2015 on a bicycle tour, I was shocked to see how easy it was to cross borders. Once, I was riding my bike along a very nice path and came upon a border crossing. There was a large border station completely unmanned with a large blockade across the road. However, since I was on a bike path, I simply passed through a narrow opening designed for foot and bike traffic and continued on my way. I thought to myself if I can do this, so can anyone else.

It is not unreasonable to want your government to protect its borders. For some reason, many Americans think the solution is to build a wall. Personally, I think a better solution is to employ our military to use its resources to protect it rather than sending them to far off places to fight pointless wars.

Now that we have a president who seems hell bent on getting the wall he promised built, we need to look long at hard at what that wall really represents. While I understand Mexico is offended by such a wall, their offense to it is not of concern to me. I have other issues with it.

First, if we want a wall built, it is our responsibility to pay for the cost of construction. For a citizen to think a poorer neighboring nation, Mexico, will and should pay the cost is like saying you don’t feel safe in your home so you want your neighbor to pay for the cost of your security system. I happen to think if Americans knew the true financial cost to them to build a wall along with the time frame to construct it and maintain it, they would choose other options.

Second, there is a built-in hypocrisy behind building a wall along our Mexican border. Many proponents are quick to say, “I am not a racist because I want a wall.” Maybe, but you sure as hell look like one in the eyes of others.

“I just want to keep terrorists and criminals from entering our country,” they often continue explaining. Really?

Many fans of a new wall also want to see us boot out the 11 million or so illegals who live here. In their eyes, they’re either really bad people who want to destroy us or they are simply taking away jobs from Americans. Both are not accurate perceptions. Here is where their hypocrisy comes into play.

If you are not a racist and simply want to make America safe, you would also insist on a wall being built between the U.S. and Canada and demanding Canadians pay the cost. It’s as if these wall fans forget we have a northern neighbor. They fail to realize it is easier for a “terrorist” (code for anyone from the Middle East who is Muslim) to blend in with Canadians, who like us, have a multicultural society with a history of being open to immigration. Mexico has never been one to embrace others from around the world like the United States or Canada. If the bad guys can sneak in from Mexico, they can also sneak in from Canada.

As for the Mexican people living here illegally, good luck finding them. If they were smart enough to enter the country illegally, they are smart enough to hide from the limited resources we have to find them. Just look at what is going on in cities like Chicago with violence and it is easy to see we have bigger fish to fry when it comes to law enforcement in our country.

When I taught, I had more than my share of students who were living here illegally and I can say it was rare when they were a problem. Mom and dad were working their butts off to provide a better life for their children and could not afford to break our laws or have kids who might run into trouble.

There were times when a student might become a problem and a few calls were made home from the school and the next thing you know, Jose was sent back to Mexico to live with an aunt or uncle. Too bad that couldn’t happen when I called a busy mom or dad to talk about the ongoing problems with Trevor or Brittany.

In case Americans are unaware, our greatest problems are inside our borders and all too often inside our own homes. Illegals are not shooting up neighborhoods, sitting on their buts and collecting money from the state, or causing our prisons to become so over crowded we have had to begin to release offenders before their sentences are up.

Those here illegally are making sure we have fresh fruit and vegetables to eat because they will break their backs to feed us while many of you protect your snowflake children by raising them to believe manual labor is demeaning and life should be handed to them on a silver platter. You bitch about wanting jobs to return while raising kids to never work until they have graduated from college. No wonder bosses are less than thrilled with the work ethic of younger people.

You see, the more we uncover what is behind our desire for wanting a wall built, the more we see such a wall reflects more than our desire to feel safe. We are crumbling from within far more than we are under attack by outsiders. When our children are raised to see the value of doing hard work, dirty work, and work that pays the least while offering a starting point toward figuring out our own personal journey, we actually grow as people and view life differently.

We find there are other ways to busy ourselves beyond what is on our cell phone or any other gadget. There actually are other ways to feel better about ourselves than to post selfies and You Tube videos that will result in kids being 25-year old mature hard working adults rather than the countless 40 year old kids we call parents who think building a wall will solve our self-created problems.

But I get it, a wall allows us to do what we as a society have mastered and that is the art of procrastination. We fool ourselves into thinking a wall will make everything better. Is it going to get Skippy off your couch and harvesting fruit, cleaning public rest rooms, or cooking the family meal at a local fast food joint? Is it going to bring an end to the wave of robberies that hit our communities because Sally and Johnny need a fix because they have run through mom and dad’s opiates? Is it going to get us to view our schools as places where we actually prepare little Billy for the real world or simply continue to serve as glorified day care centers so mom and dad can keep working without paying for a sitter?

Rather than building a border wall, we would be better served if we broke down our own personal walls and looked long and hard at what really is keeping us from feeling good about ourselves. If we continue to avoid the unpleasantness of self analysis, once that wall is built, it is just a matter of time before we start pointing the finger of blame for our misery elsewhere and start looking for the next wall to construct.