by Rain Trueax
Sonoran
Gopher Snake at our Tucson backyard pool. He/she might look scary, but
they are very beneficial to the environment. You can tell a dangerous
snake from this one by head shape. Rattlers have triangular heads. The
rattles are less reliable as they can lose those various ways. It's nice
when we can clearly define what is dangerous and what is beneficial.
Originally, I had not planned on starting with from where my thinking on immigration has
come, but Diane asked that I do that. She and I come from different
backgrounds but have been friends for over 50 years. In the early mornings, we used to meet for
coffee, when we both lived in a Tucson apartment complex. Our husbands would leave for Graduate School, and she and I'd talk over different things
that seemed important at the time. We often disagreed, but it didn't
matter. We didn't get mad. She'd head off to paint and I'd write. It was a creative environment, one I have never actually duplicated.
Recently, she and I decided here to discuss some big topics that we know we don't see the same way. We are doing it to show people can disagree and remain friends. We can let it go when we can't convince someone else that we are right. One of the problems today is the bubbles in which so many live. They hear only one side and get to thinking everyone out of their bubble is bad. I've been unfriended for that very reason on Facebook. I've come to believe that in most bubbles, if I read them at all, it's smarter to not say what I think unless it's Amen. The bubble is their right. It's a shame though as hearing from other viewpoints can let us know the ones who think that way are not bad people for disagreeing.
As for my own background, I come from working people, mostly lower income but responsible folks. There wasn't an elite among us-- intellectually or economically. I have jokingly called myself a redneck because I understand those people and ranchers tend to work with the basics of life. My people valued education but didn't see someone with a fancy degree as necessarily any smarter than someone without a high school diploma. They were more knowledgeable, of course, at least about some things...
One of my main lessons from childhood is--actions have consequences. I grew up with a belief that idealism is fine, but it has to be tempered with reality. This was reinforced when my husband of 55 years and I bought a farm over 40 years ago. Farming teaches you even more strongly that idealism doesn't get the work done. It doesn't fix broken fences. There is a reality that those who work the land learn or they go back to the city. For farmers and ranchers, work is not a temporary vacation. It's a day by day reality. You do it or it does not get done.
Recently, she and I decided here to discuss some big topics that we know we don't see the same way. We are doing it to show people can disagree and remain friends. We can let it go when we can't convince someone else that we are right. One of the problems today is the bubbles in which so many live. They hear only one side and get to thinking everyone out of their bubble is bad. I've been unfriended for that very reason on Facebook. I've come to believe that in most bubbles, if I read them at all, it's smarter to not say what I think unless it's Amen. The bubble is their right. It's a shame though as hearing from other viewpoints can let us know the ones who think that way are not bad people for disagreeing.
As for my own background, I come from working people, mostly lower income but responsible folks. There wasn't an elite among us-- intellectually or economically. I have jokingly called myself a redneck because I understand those people and ranchers tend to work with the basics of life. My people valued education but didn't see someone with a fancy degree as necessarily any smarter than someone without a high school diploma. They were more knowledgeable, of course, at least about some things...
One of my main lessons from childhood is--actions have consequences. I grew up with a belief that idealism is fine, but it has to be tempered with reality. This was reinforced when my husband of 55 years and I bought a farm over 40 years ago. Farming teaches you even more strongly that idealism doesn't get the work done. It doesn't fix broken fences. There is a reality that those who work the land learn or they go back to the city. For farmers and ranchers, work is not a temporary vacation. It's a day by day reality. You do it or it does not get done.
True,
some farmers do pay those not legally here to do the work but not many
cattle ranchers as it's dangerous work where you need to be skilled or
it won't turn out well for you. That is also true of most forestry work;
and in my part of Oregon, I see very few migrants in those jobs. The
only big farmer nearby has brought up workers from Mexico but applied for them legally
with blue cards. That lets the workers come and go.
Now, I do see a lot of those likely without documentation seasonally for Christmas tree harvesting. They aren't here later. Generally speaking, work for migrants has meant a need to move with the crops-- this is not new. It was big in the US during the Dust Bowl years in the '30s for families like Ranch Boss's father's. It is true today for those living in RVs, who go from job to job. Steady work isn't always available for some-- here illegally or otherwise.
Now, I do see a lot of those likely without documentation seasonally for Christmas tree harvesting. They aren't here later. Generally speaking, work for migrants has meant a need to move with the crops-- this is not new. It was big in the US during the Dust Bowl years in the '30s for families like Ranch Boss's father's. It is true today for those living in RVs, who go from job to job. Steady work isn't always available for some-- here illegally or otherwise.
My
time in Arizona, where the border is today an issue, began in 1965 and
has been off and on until it increased when we finally bought a second home in Tucson 20
years ago. Tucson is a place of many ethnicities, a city proud of its
past with influences from the early Mexican settlers, the Native
Americans, the Chinese, and yes, European settlers.
I've
seen the difference illegal immigration has made to Southwestern places
where I enjoy re-creating, mountain islands and valleys along the
border. There was a time, when we could explore washes down there or out
of Tucson with no concern for who we might meet. For those who don't
know, the scary people are not generally speaking the migrants but those who bring them and
drugs. I've personally seen what it has done to border towns like
Nogales where the fences got more onerous and intimidating, where the
ones I'd see hanging around looked more dangerous-- on both sides. Where rudeness to women got more out in the open by the comments made. That was not the Nogales of 1965.
Same thing with nearer to the border. We go but with caution and yes, with a gun. On the ranches down there, I've read their stories, seen for myself the plastic garbage strewn (which when cows eat kills them), seen cut fences, to which I, of course, relate. I've read how tanks were left dry after migrants refilled their bottles and left the tap open. This whole thing of having people crossing land with no respect for it can't be understood unless someone understands and tends to the land.
Despite understanding the side of those who have their land and want to protect it, I also sympathize with those here without papers, who work hard but find their lives on hold as they never really know if there will be a knock at the door. This is an intolerable problem and it's made worse that some profit from it-- on both sides of the partisan divide.
Because of my nature, I read both sides, desperate stories like this one [Risks for the migrants] but
I am a practical woman, made so by my life and belief in rules-- an
archaic way to be in today's world apparently. I also believe that with a country 22,000,000,000 in debt, where we aren't going to see 0 interest in the future, what can we really afford? There is no sugar daddy out there to pay that all off. We have to live responsibly as individuals. Why is the government different.
So, here we go with what I have come to believe-- and yes, it involves a wall--
So, here we go with what I have come to believe-- and yes, it involves a wall--
