Watershed

1: a crucial dividing point, line, or factor : TURNING POINT

2a: a region or area bounded peripherally by a divide and draining ultimately to a particular watercourse or body of water

These waters are a long way from Mexico. But, over the past couple of years, I’ve watched the flow of migrants get bottlenecked at the southern border and I can’t help but think about that little creek by my cabin. You can no more stop the flow of people searching for better lives than you can stop the headwaters of a river. You can try to redirect it, but you can’t make it go away.

And so the border is kind of like a dam. But, since we shut it down we’ve created a larger problem. It’s like we built a dam without also building a reservoir, we just stopped up the creek and ended up flooding the town and polluting the water.

And that’s not good for anyone.

But maybe, we can learn to think about the border from the perspective of a conservationist. Don’t try to stop it. Instead, protect it. Give it a place to go. Give it a path that provides life for everyone.