A Sad Symbol

People the world over on Monday celebrated the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall. The wall, first built in 1961, exists now in remnants scattered among museums and halls of state across the globe; yet it remains one of the best-known structures in political history. To this day it is still considered a stark symbol of the Cold War, international conflict
and tyranny.

Some of the key figures in the chain of events that led to the wall’s eventual fall were in Berlin on Monday to participate in commemorative events, including Polish pro-democracy leader Lech Walesa and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Surely more than a few residents of the Rio Grande Valley see Monday’s celebration as a bit ironic, as they remember the great speeches by presidents John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan condemning the wall, which ran a little less than 100 miles. Against that political backdrop, U.S. workers continue erecting the wall, now more than 700 miles and counting, that lines much of our own southern border.

The Berlin Wall and our own border barrier are hardly unique; nations have built walls for as long as history has been recorded. And whether they were built to keep people in, like the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain, or to keep people out, like the Great Wall of China and the structure many Valley residents can see from their homes, they all represent one thing: insecurity. They indicate a fear of what might happen if their own subjects are able to flee, or if strangers are allowed to enter.

Certainly, there is no shortage of people who seek to justify the U.S. border fence it can stop terrorists; however, it’s hard to make a direct link between Mexico and the Middle East, where most fearmongers insist the terrorists originate. It also doesn’t address the likelihood that foreign terrorists are aware that this country has other borders, and they can easily cross from the east, west or south. And of course, the people who launched the horrific 9/11 attacks, which raised our national paranoia, entered this country by air, and they entered legally.

Not that it matters. Our border fence is intermittent, and even though it has openings several sections already have been breached. As a functional tool for preventing people from crossing into this country, it is, by design, ineffective.

However, just like those built before it, the fence is a clear symbol that the leaders of our country — a country that claims to be the most free and powerful in the world — is motivated by fear.

There was a time when our leaders knew that our nation is strong, and did not fear the unknown. And even though we had endured acts of terrorism before, we did not cower.

As work continues on our own wall, even as the rest of the world celebrates the fall of another, we recall the famous postulate that those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it. And we hope that our elected officials will someday learn that the countries that traditionally have been the strongest and safest have been those whose people are the most free.