Something there is that doesn’t Love a Wall – Part 3

Often deemed one of the worst failures in military history, this line of fortifications extended from along much of the Franco-German border. Rather than a continuous wall, the Maginot Line was composed of 500 forts and buildings stretching hundreds of miles. The idea was to stockpile defense and militarize the border with Germany in preparation for their inevitable revenge after the Treaty of Versailles. Having lost over 4 million men in WWI, the French government feared another invasion from Germany, a country twice its size. Charles De Gaulle advocated for an offensive strategy of mobile military and mechanized vehicles, but Andre Maginot, among others, convinced the administration that a wall was the best defense. The Maginot Line was built in stages from 1930-40 and cost $3 billion francs. Conspicuously, it did not pass through the Ardennes Forest, believe to be impenetrable; this is where Germany would land its first strike in its swift month-long victory.

Along America’s 2,000-mile border with Latin America, walls in Arizona and California have already begun to funnel border-crossers away from urban areas and into dangerous deserts. A document signed by the ACLU and drafted by the Human Rights National Commission of Mexico puts the death toll of border-crossers over the last 13 years near 5,000, and many more will die if they are continually routed into inhospitable places like the Sonoran Desert. The Secure Fence Act proposes some 700 miles of border barriers, which will reroute even more immigrants through dangerous sections of Texas, Arizona, and California.

One of the Maginot Line’s most salient characteristics was its 100 miles of interconnecting tunnels. This underground infrastructure facilitated a quick and covert response to any attack along the Maginot Line. These tunnels though, along with the line of fortifications, did not extend into the Belgian border because it was a neutral nation. When the German troops flanked the Maginot Line and flew over it with their Luftwaffe, the Maginot Line still remained largely indefatigable, though the country it was built to protect was forced to surrender.

In the 14 miles of border wall south of San Diego, more than 24 tunnels have already been found. According to some estimates, there are more than 50 tunnels subverting the border wall already. A border wall, if not coupled with an immigration reform which will help immigrants, employers, and Border Patrol agents, will only force immigration issues underground.

While the border wall, past and proposed, is supposed to block would-be Americalmosts from immigrating illegally to the United States, it does nothing to solve the issue of almost 6 million undocumented residents who came here legally, nor does it begin to grapple with the push/pull factors of immigration which highlight the weaknesses of an outdated quota system and an inhumane lottery system for citizenship. Lacking diplomacy or reform, a border wall without better laws is another Maginot Line costing an inexcusable amount of money merely to sidestep instead of solve immigration issues.

Life is a Story

Life is a story.

Life is a story, and we are more than merely actors.  We get a part in the writing, we get to actively work for happy endings.  Every relationship, every conflict, every contact we experience through life is a storyline.

One of the best words in the English language is redemption.  This idea of buying back, of making good, of righting a wrong – it is the heart of movies such as Shawshank Redemption and books like Les Miserables.

The most beautiful thing about nonviolence, then, is the fact that it always holds out hope for redemption.  Because nonviolence never physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually views the “other” as an enemy or essentially evil, reconciliation is a constant possibility.

The saddest thing about violence is that it ends the possibility of redemption and reconciliation.  The worst thing about murder is that it ends that “storyline,” that relationship, precluding the hope or chance of reconciliation.  Violence says, “there is nothing you can say or do to ever reconcile yourself to me.”  While morally arrogant, this popular philosophy of violence has permeated so many parts of our society, from wars to classrooms and international policies.

A border wall is the end of dialogue.  A border wall, just like the walls in China and Berlin, Hadrian’s Wall and the Maginot Line, all send the same message – we are no longer willing to communicate.  A wall is the end of communication, the end of attempts to reconcile different beliefs or lifestyles or philosophies.  Walls are acts of violence in that they do not allow for redemption.  Walls are irreconcilable because they divide peoples into two categories, when we are all so unimaginably different and yet so amazingly the same.  Walls are a physical attempt to cease communications, but they never last because people can be redeemed, people can and do seek to be at peace with their neighbors, people will find ways to communicate and redeem themselves.

May we seek harmony instead of rigid security.  May we hope for reconciliation rather than militarization on our borders.  May we be more creative than walls, more optimistic than secure fences, more moral than muros, more human than high-walled divisions.

The story will go on, and I will be holding out the chance for redemption.