Last
Saturday, I boarded a bus with 25 religious leaders at BorderLinks in Tucson,
AZ (https://www.borderlinks.org/) - an organization
with the mission:
Through dynamic
educational experiences, BorderLinks connects divided communities, raises
awareness about the impact of border and immigration policies, and inspires
action for social transformation.
The bus took us toward the U.S./Mexico
border at Nogales which “was
once an easy, friendly and relaxed two-nation border town” as described in the
official website of Nogales, AZ. “The
urban fabric is now split in two,” the website description continues, “Separated by an international border, yet still Ambos
Nogales remains heavily reliant on each other.”
This somewhat neutral description quickly evaporated as we moved close
enough to the dividing wall to look over to the Mexico side of Nogales. While we saw in the U.S. side “a progressive
city that has been able to maintain its small town charm, rich traditions, and
vibrant culture”—another somewhat accurate description from the website—on the
Mexico side, we saw dwellings made of unfinished cinderblocks, car tires and
wood panels, crowded on the hillside pushing up against the border wall.
After
we cross the border into Nogales, Sonoma, we listened to stories of people
planning on crossing the border illegally in order to be with families and make
a better living. Some had repeatedly
been deported back from the U.S. and still they would try again. We drove by the manufacturing plants
factories called Maquiladoras,
which take advantage of the efficient proximity to the U.S. and the abundance
of inexpensive labor. We had lunch in a
cinderblock house in which our gracious host shared her struggles in
challenging the factories to honor the rights of the workers who made an
average wage equivalent to $35-$75 per week. As we continued our journey, I saw
a vision of a large machine and people were fed into it with prescribed
paths. Even when they were fighting the
system, they are still confined by the rules of this machine. I was desperate to find hope.
Finally,
we arrived at the "Hogar de Esperanza y
Paz" where stories of hope were shared through adult education programs,
programs for children, community gardens, and mirco-economic development. I saw these programs as ways to create
reasons for people to stay. However,
this place of grace seemed so small in the face of this enormous destructive
system of exchanges across this border that favors the corporations and the
rich, while the poor continues to struggle to find sustainability including
making the dangerous journey north.
Yet, this glimpse of hope is what we have to hold on to. We have to find ways to connect with this
vision and then share and expand using our currencies of relationships. As long as there are systems that exploit the poor, we will
always have the poor among us. And we
might try to help the poor within this system, but our limited efforts are not
going to address the heart of the problem.
The solution is to transform the system, or at least name and realize an
alternative sustainable community. We
can only do this by first anointing the “sustainist” in ourselves and each
other—the part of our heart and soul and mind that truly love and respect
humanity and the earth. If more and more
people are dwelling in the way of love, we might have a chance to truly
transform our systems from scarcity to abundance, limiting border to expanding
margin, from fear to grace.
BorderLinks
envisions a world in which people, within and across social borders, respect
and care for each other, value and celebrate differences, and build healthy and
just communities where everyone has equal opportunity for a full and dignified
life.
2013
Opportunities to Study with The Sustainist:
April 15-19 Missional Ministry in the Grace Margin and Holy Currencies Orientation Los Angeles, CA
July 15-19 Holy Currencies: Beyond Time, Talent and Treasure Los Angeles, CA
August 19-23 Fundamental Skills for Building Inclusive Community and Holy Currencies Orientation Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center, North Bend (near Seattle), WA
Register at: www.kscopeinstitute.org
|
Reflection Questions
for the Forth Sunday in Lent (Year C)
Isaiah 42:16-21 What new thing God is
doing?
Psalm 126 What does it mean for
God to restore our fortunes?
Philippians 3:4b-14 What did you learn
from this text about value?
John 12:1-8 What did you learn
from this text about value?
|
Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org