Mood:
blueTopic: "Wall of Libertad"
In 1966 Frodo stood before the Berlin Wall. His eyes raced from the pieces of glass in cement atop the blocks of stone and the rolling barbed wire to the splattered letters "KZ" painted as graffiti at various points alongside the Wall. He was gazing at Mount Doom for the very first time. What he did that day is another story, for another time.
Frodo took a tour of the Eastern Sector on a bus with an official guide. Frodo's youthful rage built as he listened to the guide extol the virtues of life "behind the Wall." Frodo grew indignant when the guide responded to his question by saying that people risked their lives to cross the Wall for money. The guide told Frodo that people got the benefit of a superior education in the East, then crossed the Wall in order to get higher-paying jobs in the West. Frodo was unable to comprehend that anything other than a desire to "breathe free" would be the motivation for the risk of life in such an endeavour. Those on the "front" side of the Wall refused to accept any inference that the East offered anything other than tyranny.
Frodo has thought of those days and those feelings more often of late. Frodo has learned to accept the fact that people do cross borders, swim rivers, and crawl through barbed wire in order to get better jobs. Frodo sees it happening every day alongside the southern border of the Shire. The guide was not totally full of it, and Frodo apologizes for what he said in righteous indignation so many years ago.
Those who escaped from the East in 1966 did so in violation of the law of the land in which they lived. Those who enter the North in 2005 do so in violation of the law in the land into which they enter. In both cases the only solution that government, and mankind, could devise was to build a Wall.
This past week, a Congresswoman referred to the creation of a Wall between the United States and Mexico as the creation of the "world's largest gated community." Frodo smiled and nodded his head. At the same time he imagines himself looking at the great statue in the great harbor, for the first time, and imagines how he, too, might have seen Mount Doom from another angle. Instead of hope, Frodo may have been looking into the face of ignorance and fear. Money does funny things. Not unlike the ring itself, those who possess it want to keep it, and those who don't have it go to great lengths to acquire it. Lord Tolkien was a wise man, indeed.
Frodo has decided that he disagrees first and foremost with the location of the Wall that separates North and South. Frodo feels that the Wall should take a turn to the North near El Paso and proceed nearly to Kansas before veering South to Houston and the Gulf Coast. The entire land now known as Texas should stand "behind" the Wall. In fact, a National movement for this purpose could be dubbed as "Return the Alamo."
The benefit of the return of Texas to its' rightful ownership in the Republic of Mexico would be immense to the harmony of the Shire. No winner of a Nobel Peace Prize or any person of true significance has ever been produced by the ill-gotten territory. Perhaps the Mexicans will have better luck. Giving the South more land into which it can grow will lessen the need for their citizens to seek illegal entry into the Shire. The Wall, thusly drawn, could work on behalf of every Citizen in Middle Earth who exhibits an intelligence quotient greater than that of a bedbug. It would be an "intelligent design."
Frodo and Sam are leaving tomorrow in order to visit the gallant Howard. It is bittersweet to realize that this will likely be the last Season of Joy spent together. Frodo will not have anything further to say until Tuesday of next week. For you, dear reader, Frodo wishes life and love and laughter. For all of us may there be peace, soon.
Posted by loveysdaddyga
at 9:21 PM EST
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