June 30th, 2020: Boundaries We Created
It does not look like the border between the US and Canada will be
open up anytime soon. The rate of Covid-19 infection in many states in
the US has become a factor in that decision. Recently, the Premier of
Ontario criticized some American politicians for irresponsible
re-opening of the business in their respective states. This delay has
created more personal headaches for many American and Canadian families
because we are two very inter-dependent nations. The border is an
artificial and arbitrary thing when it comes to family relationships. If
we take time and think about how many other arbitrary boundaries we
have put up in our society, that will also call for further reflection.
We
have created boundaries in how we provide healthcare for our people.
Covid-19 has confirmed to us that our healthcare systems are inadequate
to deal with the pandemic crisis. That is true in both countries even
though Canada might boast that it has universal healthcare. Canada has a
very high rate of senior mortality versus the total number of
infections. America has a higher rate of death when it comes to the
poor. The values of people are arbitrarily defined, and we can see its
impact during the last three months.
We have
created boundaries in how we go about urban planning. It doesn't matter
where we are in the US or Canada, every city has an undesirable area,
and that has become acceptable facts. We told our children and our
visitors not to wander into these areas. People's identities categorized
by their location of residence. We give them names like "the inner city
" or "the international avenue" to describe these areas. Poverty and
crimes are going together, and some boundaries come along with these
conditions.
We have created boundaries in terms
of where we shop and spend our money. There are places we would never
consider going to because of what they represent. Some of these
boundaries express our moral convictions. Some exist because of our
preference. Some are there by default because we have no ideas about
what we are doing or what is the right thing to do.
There
is a physical boundary, and there is an emotional boundary. We built
walls to isolate ourselves. We can overcome our emotional boundary by
daring to cross over to the other side. When we look at America and
Canada today, we are nations, where we have learned to enslave ourselves
with our emotional walls. We cry out for freedom and justice, and yet
we cannot even acknowledge our own unjust heart that is based mostly on
fear and shame. We are angry and want to destroy things only to discover
that emptiness exists on the other side of destruction.
Psalm 34: 17-20
"When
the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all
their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the
crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the
Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of
them is broken."
