The Borders as the New Horizons


Instead of viewing borders
As absolutes between here and there
The well-known and immediately recognizable on the one side
Foreign lands and strange cultures on the other side
Instead of viewing borders as
Our ultimate sacred space in this border-erasing and collapsing globalizing era
Public property which has become so intensely privatized more and more across the globe but especially in the North over the last twenty years
Borders as the modern forms of medieval Fortresses to be protected at any and all costs against invading hordes of aliens on the move
And since 9/11 the growing notion that these poor aliens are now potential enemies in disguise coming in to wreak havoc in the North
Fueling more and more often barely-hidden racist and xenophobic calls to build Berlin walls around the wealthy countries
So, instead of viewing borders
As absolutes
Inviolable and imaginary markings on a map
At which something wonderful and uniquely virtuous abruptly ends
And something more threatening, alien and maybe even corrupting
begins
Maybe
Just maybe
This exile would respectfully suggest
We all should resolve to imagine and boldly strive to understand
In these very fluid and for many unsettling times
Borders
Grenzen
Grenze
Frontera
Frontieres
more like
Horismos or
The horizon or
New Frontiers
Namely as adaptable and moving meeting places
Instead of minefields
From where something essential
commences its unending
Magical and yes
Often unexpectedly fascinating and
surprising unfolding
In the end, renewing and
Enriching all of us in this ongoing process
as old as humanity itself.