A week from today I depart from my home state of birth (Iowa) to spend five months volunteering along the US-Mexico border in El Paso, TX. Blog Blast for Peace means something concrete to me: I'm moving to a war zone.
Drug cartels are battling for control of the valuable portal into the U.S. which is Juarez-El Paso. In October the murder average was 10 per day in Juarez, an easy 40 minute stroll away from my front door.
Here are today's (11/4/2009) newspaper headlines:
Mexican troops kill federal agent in gunbattle
Reporter kidnapped and killed in northern Mexico
Update: One of six men shot, killed in Juárez strip club was in U.S....
Brother of El Paso TV anchor slain in Juárez
Reporter kidnapped and killed in northern Mexico
Update: One of six men shot, killed in Juárez strip club was in U.S....
Brother of El Paso TV anchor slain in Juárez
El Paso TX, the sister city of Juarez, is ranked one of the safest cities in the US for its size. While the murder total so far for this year in Juarez is over 1900, the number stands at just 10 for El Paso. But can you imagine living just a mile away from that murder and mayhem? Even reading the morning newspaper is daunting. Mangled women's cadavers discovered in vacant lots...maybe even right downtown. Lawyers assassinated in the downtown streets. Ten thousand federal troops occupying the city. Juarez is one of the most dangerous places on earth.
Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a friend or relative in Juarez. The war affects us all.
The United States is implicated in all the violence in many ways. But we have institutionalized our "innocence." Our drug czar is bound by law to resist any discussion of the legalization of drugs which are currently illegal. We build a wall to defend ourselves. It is then possible to point fingers: Why can't Mexico handle the problem? Why are they so corrupt? We can ask questions self-rightously from the other side.
If we want peace, we need to work for justice.
If we want peace, we need to dismantle racism.
If we want peace, we must promote economic opportunity for all.
If we want peace, we must do the inner work of healing and recovery, both personally and as a nation.
If we want peace, we can begin by opening our eyes to the realities from which we are largely insulated.
War is not so very far away.
[READ MORE +/-]
Click "READ MORE" for the song's lyrics.
Walking the line between pleasure and pain
Biding my time between loss and gain
I've run out of roads, I've traveled them all
Down at the border by the one-sided wall
Down at the border, facing that wall
Racking my brain for the cause of it all
No one to point to, no one to blame
I can't be the only one stuck in this game
Borderless love, the land of the free
Borderless love, how far can you see?
Borderless love, there's no border at all
In a borderless love there's no need for a wall
When I feel what I feel, when I see what I see
Why do my heart and my head disagree?
A one-sided wall, is it all in the mind?
Who can see more than one side at a time?
A wall is a mirror that can only reveal
One side of a story that passes for real
But break it all down, it all becomes clear
It's the fearless who love and the loveless who fear
Borderless love, the land of the free
Borderless love, how far can you see?
Borderless love, there's no fear at all
In a borderless love there's no need for a wall
Over, under, around and through
Life is love and love is true
Over, under, around and through
Walls of thunder, skies of blue