On the wall: Will we be bitter or better?
Can we find a more hopeful and helpful solution than walling off our southern border? What about Bob? Do we want to be bitter or better? Do we want compartmentalized isolation or mutual enrichment? A wall prevents intermarriage between cultures so that our children cannot become the peacemakers and be called the Children of God.
Separating children from their parents at the border with no family records and crowding the children in cages is a mean, demeaning deterrent. It will have a harmful psychological effect that is more lasting than a barrier wall. Walls can be torn down. Mexico can pay for and build half of a beautiful bridge of hope and love.
We need to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform with ongoing improvement in security commensurate with a threat that grows or diminishes.
President Reagan's famous quote was, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." The threat was gone. They were men of peace and goodwill. Are we going to be better or bitter?
No one wants drugs or a harmful criminal element traveling from country to country or even state to state. Can we find a better way to effect change? The answer may be to take one large comprehensive compassionate step rather than baby steps. Foreign aid may be factored into a solution.
We not only have "What About Bob", bitter or better, we have "Groundhog Day". We have the time to decide. This divisive problem is a rerun of history. The time is always today, not yesterday, not tomorrow. Let's unite, trust in God and keep trying until we get it right.
George E. Bedingfield
Arlington Heights