Getting along vs getting it right

A lot of you don't know this but when I was about 24 years old, I was very close to interviewing for a job as an engineer in airline cockpits with United Airlines and my chances were very good at getting hired and then working my way up to co-captain and evenutally captain on 727s, 37s, and eventually probably the biggest commercial airplanes on earth the 747 and 767 that are in regular use.  Despite working my way up to this opportunity, I knew much before I got that far, that flying wasn't my thing and when I decided to drop it, it was a great relief and I never looked back, never felt a morsel of regret.  I do sometimes wish that I would've quit sooner and pursued something that I really liked younger, but the experience has served me well in other endeavors in my life up to the present day.  In today's world that is so connected where borders are becoming less and less significant while at the same time there are tremendous forces at work to try to divide us, I'm reminded of a finding I learned while studying to be an airline pilot that tried to figure what type of cockpit crew was most likely to save the airplane and passengers from harm in an emergency situation.  It was a graph that compared pilot skill and crew compatibility and the finding was that of course, the best crew was one that had the most skills and competence possible along with most compatability with team members.  The interesting find was that it was better to have a crew with so-so skills and high compatability than it was to have a crew that had excellent skills but little compatability.  Even more interesting was that on a scale of 1-10 for both skills and compatability it was better to have a crew who was 5 and 5 than to have a crew that was a 10 on skills and a 4 on compatability.  In othe words, a crew that was tired and possibly did not have excellent manuevering skills but that knew each other well and worked together well was more likely to save the day.  That finding really struck me (obviously I still remember it 25 years later) and I can apply it today to what's going on at the border.,  In order to save ourselves from war, famine, and climate chage we need to first get know each other.  This is why I am against border walls and think they all need to be torn down.   I see the need for people to get to know each other. 

Flaurtrism

 Sometimes the initial flower, the one most connected to the sun must die so that others can bloom.

Connection

He said the US going down in flames and he's going to observe it from afar in Baja.  I don't think this will be possible because, although I agree that US is coming to an end, I think it will come through a connection with other countries.  I think the US will morph into part of a connected planet.  I think the US is self destructing because it can no longer be a separate entity from the rest of the world.  I think the new US will be a country that is about as separated from Mexico and canada as Manhattan is from Queens and from South America as much New York is from North Carolina.  I think what's dying is the ability to completely isolate people who live in different countries from each other and what forms from this greater connection and new closeness between fellow human beings is the future of countries and what will create new cultures.  I think it will be a positive thing.  Most of the time when I meet someone new, I'm glad I met them and I think getting to know people across cultural barriers will dissipate fears of the "other" and create more understanding. 

"We don't have a country if we don't have borders" - Donald Trump.   That's right.  The US is changing because borders are meaning less and less.  The US is less and less a separate entity.  I don't think we need to protect the US from becoming a more integral part of the world.  I think this is the future.  I heard that in 1000 years, everyone will be the same race/color.  We're moving in this direction and this means we're more connected.  

Defund the police vs. Defund Border Patrol

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding" - Albert Einstein.  Our job at Friendship Park is to create peace through friendship and understanding across the border and barriers in general.  One could say, ironically, that Border Patrol's job is also to create peace at the border.  I say ironically because what the Friends of Friendship Park is working towards and defending where possible is a connection between people from either side of the border and border patrol's job of stopping criminal activity becomes a lot easier if the two sides go there separate ways and there is a clear divide.  The Friends of Friendship Park mission is to create a space that is conducive to a mother who has been separated by immigration status from her son for twenty years to eat together being able to share a meal with him and her new grand children and greet each other with hugs, a space where people can volunteer in a binational garden to promote together the importance of native flora to improve our shared ecosytem and invoke the practice of 8,000 years of harmony with earth by the Kumeyaay, the region's first peoples, a place where people can have cross border religious ceremonies, and a place where people from completely different perspectives on life are encouraged to over come their differences and get to know thier similarities to create understanding, trust, and friendship.  Our mission is for the park to become a shinning example for the world of how long term peace can be achieved through understanding.  

So what, you ask, does all this flower power talk have to do with a dangerous situation at the border.  Would binational yoga class or planting a native tree together across the border or even a mother hugging her grandchildren stop someone with a gun or immediate violent intentions?  I wouldn't count on it.  And, looking at it from an enforcement mentality, gatherings of any kind, create vulnerabilities for criminal activity.  So where the Fofp mission and the bp mission actually coincide is creating peace.  The problem lies in that enfocement mentality is the only one of the two that is actually part of Us border policy.  So peace advocates end up clashing with enforcement officers because our goals aren't included and we are put in a position where we have to somehow sneak peace and friendship in and this, in turn, is looked at by enforcement officers who are 100% in charge, as suspicious activity or activity that could leave "vulnerabilities".  So, in general, like activists with the Black lives matter movement and defund the police, the Friends of Friendship Park isn't focused on getting rid of all enforcement but rather shifting resources and priorities to include other aspects of security.  When someone is having a mental breakdown and yelling and screaming even making threatening remarks, advocates of defund the police would say a mental health specialist would be much more appropriate emergency call than the police but funding is focused on enforcement so the police show up which puts the officer in an awkward position that could actually escalate the situation.   How is someone trained to address an emergency violent situation supposed to react to a person who is not violent but out of control?   They shouldn't have to answer that and when they are asked to they may respond innapropriately or even fatally.  At our park, there are community needs and the only funding, resources, and policy is to support enforcement.  We need support for our mission of friendship across barriers.  We need to shift funds and priorities so that cross border understanding is protected at our border and so that we can finally work in conjunction with local border patrol instead of clashing with them.  

Two rocks

Two rocks, one from granite and the other from volcanic magma take millions of years to form and be shaped similarly, one by the Tijuana river and the other by the Jordan.  They are just starting their journey from the river to the sea.  Del rio a la mar, min la maie la maie.  They are picked up along the way by the resistances and their their truths gathered from millions of years of observation are hurled at the armed to the teeth soldiers debunking the respective impositions funded by the same imperialistic lies.

Creativity

 Creativity fades not because we do but because the moment does

creativity

fades not because we do

because the moment does 

Coordinación imperfecta

 "Soy Daniel", le dije por la ventana al chofer del Uber gris parado, la Casa del túnel centro de arte edificio de tres pisos a mi espalda tapando el muro fronterizo en la calle residencial de la Colonia federal.  Me miró y movíó la cabeza.  Al subirme atrás le dije, "Buenas tardes, qué tal, cómo va todo?"

"Buenas tardes", me dijo con el entusiasmo mínimo que se requería una cortesía básica del servicio.

Dimos la vuelta hacía la plaza chaparral de la garita peatonal cerrada al público y al pasarla como que cedió a mi oferta de conversación, "Como que ya deben de abrir aquí, no?"

En eso me llegó un mensaje importante del trabajo y apenas le prestaba atención al amigo, "O sí sí, no sé por qué no la abren."

El siguió diciendo que ya las filas peatonales son largas en la otra garita y deben de abrir y yo prestandole atención cada vez menos leyendo mis mensajes.  "Perdón, me llegó un mensaje importante acá."  Ya no me dijo nada y seguí con mis mensajes unos 10 minutos más.  Cruzamos el puente sobre el rio de Tijuana y le seguimos por el blvd internacional con la vista de los  muros a la derecha donde, entre los barrotoes, se alcanzaba a ver la expansión del estuario hasta el mar.  

Al ver la privada pegada al muro llena de mansiones lujosas en la entrada a Playas donde me han dicho que tiene una de sus casas Vicente Fernandez, guardé el cel y me di cuenta que nunca había entrado ahí y ni sabía por dónde.

"Tú sabes cómo se entra a esta privada?"

En eso nos detuvimos por el tráfico a un lado de una entrada que yo pensé que era para el hotel al lado.

"Aquí" me dijo.

"O, como está un poco más adelante, no pensé que era la entrada a esa zona.  Todo los años que tengo viviendo en Playas y nunca sabía cómo se entra ahí"

"Sí, como Uber me han pedido servicio varias veces.  Es una privada, muy caro todo."

"Pero bonito, no?"

"O sí"

En eso empezamos a dar la curva en el Oxxo del toreo que marca la vuelta a mi calle.  Terminando la vuelta para entrar a la calzada, vemos a una mujer con una sudadera blanca y un hombre juntos parados en la orilla queriendo cruzar.  Ellos dentenidos esperando que pasáramos y el chofer también detenido esperando.  La muchacha empieza a cruzar mientras el muchacho se detiene y, a la vez, se dan cuenta de sus intenciones contrarias y él avanza y ella regresa y luego otra vez ella entra a la calle y él retrocede, el brazo de la sudadera blanca aleteando en el viento como la solapa de un vestido de baile foclórico y el chofer... "A ver, van a cruzar o no?" 

Y como si lo escucharan, por fin dejaron de dar sus vueltas de la dancita torpita y se detuvieron los dos a esperar.  

"Sí, verdad?" dije respondiendo  al comentario riéndome un poco mientras veía a la pareja por la venatan de atrás hablando tal vez discutiendo.  

"Como que ella quería cruzar y el no y luego él sí y ella no."

Me reí más y luego los dos juntos un poco hasta llegar a la puerta de mi casa al lado de donde se revela de nuevo el muro fronterizo.