A Spiritual Perspective On That Mexico Border Wall…

As most of my friends know I’m not a fan of politics whatsoever, which means I’m not very aware of most current political issues, although there is one that’s been hard not to hear about or ignore these days like I do with anything else political in nature and it’s about the proposed Mexico border wall.

Because I didn’t know much about this issue, I decided to research a little further and discovered a few simple statistics. It’s meant to be 1,150 miles long, 40 feet high, 10 feet deep into the ground and 1 foot wide. It’s going to cost $8.7 billion in concrete and $3.6 billion in steel. Labor is currently being estimated at $12.3 billion. And there’s also the actual rest of the land acquisition that will cost around $200 million, leaving a whopping total of $25 billion at the bare minimum for this entire project.

$25 billion!

It’s hard for me to fathom that a wall costing $25 billion is more important than taking care of the forty percent of American adults who don’t have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency expense, or the forty-three percent of households who can’t even afford the basics to live, or the quarter of adults who annually skip medical care because they can’t afford it, or the twenty-two percent of adults who can’t pay all of their bills every month, or the 1.5 million who are homeless, or the more than 25 million who have a drug problem in this country, and so on and so forth. It’s also hard for me to fathom that a $25 billion-dollar wall would even stop the influx of illegal immigrants, as well as drugs and guns, because they probably would just find some other way to make it across the border.

In light of the main reason why this wall is being pushed so hard by the President, that being to prevent illegal immigration, my deepest truth is that I just don’t quite get it. Over the years, I’ve meant a number of individuals who were illegal immigrants and they were some of the nicest people who do the hardest work, and often for the cheapest wage, which for the record I never thought was fair. While there may be documented cases of people who are illegal immigrants that have added to the crime rates in our country, there’s a much greater share of those who haven’t and instead, have done the exact opposite to bring greater beauty, love, and light here. People who in my opinion have done a far better job of that than many of our own citizens, including myself when I used to be in the throngs of addiction.

Nevertheless, this proposed wall tends to remind me of an episode in the Brady bunch where a line was drawn down the middle of one of the kid’s rooms and all the anger it caused because of it. It also reminds me of when kids used to play in the sandbox and draw a line in the sand saying any toys on their side was theirs and theirs alone. And it even reminds me of all the other boundaries, borders, and walls that each of us have erected throughout our lives solely to keep people from getting to close, something that has most definitely created more disunity and discord than unity and harmony.

This is why I for one, am not for this Mexico Border wall and continue to hope that it will never come to fruition. While I absolutely don’t believe it will solve the problem the President thinks is such a major problem, I also feel it makes our country look even more segregated and standoffish than we already appear with the rest of the world, and maybe even from itself. Walls like this, or of any sort for that matter, usually only create more problems in the long run, which is why I’m doing everything I can these days to drop any of my own still remaining. Instead, I’m working on replacing them with open arms, as for so long, I erected such monstrosities that they always left me quite empty and devoid of feeling any real love and compassion for anyone or anything.

Regardless, for $25 billion, I truly hope for our country’s sake that rather than using it to limit our openness at our borders, that it will end up utilizing it for the many things within our borders that are currently crying out for assistance.

And maybe, it isn’t this Mexico Border wall that we should all be focusing on anyway.

Maybe we should be focusing on all those walls each of us keep constructing within our lives that continue to make us feel separate from each other? As maybe when we work on removing them, we might see how we are all connected and when we do, we’ll finally begin to realize there’s no need to ever have any sort of border wall erected within us or around us…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Silly Joke Friday

Silly Joke #1

The chief of staff of the US Air Force decided that he would personally intervene in the recruiting crisis affecting all of our armed services. So, he directed that a nearby Air Force base be opened and that all eligible young men and women be invited. As he and his staff were standing near a brand new F-15 Fighter, two back woods country brothers who looked like they had just stepped off a Marine Corps recruiting poster walked up to them. The chief of staff stuck out his hand and introduced himself. He looked at the first young man and asked, “Son, what skills can you bring to the Air Force?” The young man looks at him and says, “I’m a pilot!” The general gets all excited, turns to his aide and says, “Get him in today, all the paper work done, everything, do it!” The aide hustles the young man off. The general looks at the second young man and asked, “What skills to you bring to the Air Force?” The young man says, “I chop wood!” “Son,” the general replies, “we don’t need wood choppers in the Air Force, what else do you know how to do?” “I chop wood!” “Young man,” huffs the general, “you are not listening to me, we don’t need wood choppers, this is the 21st century!” “Well,” the young man says, “you hired my brother!” “Yes, of course we did,” says the general, “he’s a pilot!” The young man says, “But, I have to chop it before he can pile it!”

Silly Joke #2

In a crowded city at a busy bus stop, a woman who was waiting for a bus was wearing a tight leather skirt. As the bus stopped and it was her turn to get on, she became aware that her skirt was too tight to allow her leg to come up to the height of the first step of the bus. Slightly embarrassed and with a quick smile to the bus driver, she reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little, thinking that this would give her enough slack to raise her leg. Again, she tried to make the step only to discover she still couldn’t. So, a little more embarrassed, she once again reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little more. For the second time, attempted the step, and, once again, and much to her chagrin, she could not raise her leg. With a little smile to the driver, she again reached behind to unzip a little more and again was unable to make the step. About this time, a large Texan who was standing behind her picked her up easily by the waist and placed her gently on the step of the bus.She went ballistic and turned to the would-be Samaritan and screeched, “How dare you touch my body! I don’t even know who you are!’ The Texan smiled and drawled, “Well, ma’am, normally I would agree with you, but after you unzipped my fly three times, I kind of figured we was friends…”

Silly Joke #3

A little old lady went to the grocery store and put the most expensive cat food in her basket. She then went to the check-out counter where she told the check-out girl, “Nothing but the best for my little kitten.”The girl at the cash register said, “I’m sorry, but we have a new policy. We are unable to sell you cat food without proof that you have a cat. A lot of old people buy cat food to eat, and the management wants proof that you are buying the cat food for your cat.” The little old lady went home, picked up her cat and brought it back to the store. They sold her the cat food. The next day, the old lady went to the store and bought twelve of the most expensive dog cookies. The cashier this time demanded proof that she now had a dog, claiming that old people sometimes also eat dog food. Frustrated she went home, came back and brought in her dog. She was then given the dog cookies. The next day she brought in a box with a hole in the lid. The little old lady asked the cashier to stick her finger in the hole. The cashier said, “No, you might have a snake in there.” The little old lady assured her that there was nothing in the box that would bite her. So, the cashier put her finger into the box and pulled it out and told the little old lady, “Yuck, my finger now smells like crap!” The little old lady grinned from ear to ear, “Hopefully that’s enough proof to buy three rolls of toilet paper today!”

Bonus Silly Joke

A man and his wife return home from a pleasant evening out. Hoping to score some action that night, he quickly slips down to the kitchen while she is getting ready for bed. He returns a few moments later with a glass of water, and a few pills, which he hands to her.”What’s this for?” she asks, rather puzzled. “It’s aspirin for your headache.” he said. “But I haven’t got a headache…” she responded a little puzzled. “Aha!! Gotcha!!! No excuses this time!” he said with a grin.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Thought For The Day

Quote #1

“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” (Rabindranath Tagore)

Quote #2

“Death is a challenge…It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other.” (Leo Buscaglia)

Quote #3

“I’ve told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.” (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross)

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson