Flipping radio channels is something that happens on a frequent basis in my car. I stop when I find something of interest which means I don’t land on NPR very often. Not that it doesn’t interest other people, it just doesn’t interest me. But a couple of days ago I stopped to hear what was being reported and as usual, ended up rolling my eyes a few times.
One report in particular made me laugh. I’m sure it was intended to make people worry and fret over the potential ramifications of a border wall between the US and Mexico but even the reporter seemed to see the humor. Apparently, she spoke with a man who works in Tijuana who puts items into packages and labels them for shipping. The items are made in China, shipped to San Diego, shipped to Tijuana, and shipped back to San Diego for distribution to customers.
Now my first question is why are we sending items from America to Tijuana for someone there to package when we have plenty of people in America who need jobs. The obvious and disturbing answer is that they can pay people less money in Tijuana. Of course, that leads me into the subject of minimum wage in America, but I digress.
The funny part? The man was packaging Donald Trump bobble heads. That made me laugh as the irony was not lost one me… plus I think I want one.
This man, and others like him, are worried that a wall will somehow cause him to lose his job. I’m not sure how he thinks a wall will do that since there will be DOORS on it and trade can (and hopefully will) continue to happen. The problem is… people have put so much fear into others that they think this wall will somehow end everything. I hope it will end some things, but trade should not be one of them.
Yes, there have been other walls in the history of the world for various reasons. Some have come down, some have gone up, and some are tourist attractions. But all walls have a purpose, good or evil, and all walls have opposition to their existence.
The wall along Mexico’s border has been a topic for many decades and even I was affected by it’s non-existence some 35 years ago. I was luckier than some but I was stalked and eventually attacked by more than one illegal alien. I use the term “illegal’ because they were not in America legally… and I use ‘alien’ because they were not citizens of our country. That’s what an alien is… someone who exists in a country where they are not from, whether they are there legally or not. If the wall was built or even if our border was secure, what happened to me would not have happened.
There are so many people in our country affected by the fact a wall does not exist that it’s no wonder when Trump said he would build it, they voted for him. There are countless numbers of people whose lives would have NOT been affected adversely if we had been securing our border all along. President after president declared it needed to be done and that they would do something about it. Let’s look to Trump and see if he accomplishes that which is swears he will. If it does, one might consider it a miracle.
This post was originally seen on Alexandria (aleksandreia.com).
