What is the point of wishing a Happy New Year, some ask, since, whatever we do, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”? As times have become grim, it would unfortunately be more judicious to say “the more things change, the worse they get!” »
Migration flows throughout the world have continued to increase since the end of the Second World War. The fighting at the borders is constantly increasing. Floods follow earthquakes which follow forest fires which follow the melting of glaciers. Wars are breaking out in every corner of the earth to such an extent that many observers are already fearing a third world conflict.
Happy New Year Grandma!
Intolerance and hatred increasingly fuel racism and anti-Semitism. Faced with the predicted catastrophe, we begin to dream of a better world, without borders, without passports and without confrontations. But, upon reflection, our times are perhaps no different from past centuries. In time, the Earth must not have turned any more round since, in his time, Socrates, the founder of Western philosophy, already advised people to no longer refer to themselves as Athenians or Greeks. “Be citizens of the world instead!” » he told them.
After the Second World War, the American pacifist Garry Davis courageously took up this idea, which he defended tooth and nail until his death.
I proudly joined his movement, which some described as utopian, but which was nevertheless joined by Abbé Pierre, André Breton, Albert Camus and Dr.r Albert Schweitzer, to name just a few. Barack Obama himself has a World Citizens passport!
Garry Davis dreamed of the complete abolition of borders and the creation of one government for one world. But to achieve this goal, he believed that the inhabitants of the planet must start by reducing inequalities.
I was recently given the opportunity to see to what extent the existence of borders was superfluous.
Some time ago, my son managed to rescue a small European starling that had accidentally fallen from its nest. He took in the poor baby bird and looked after it as best he could. With good treatment and time, he ended up taming the bird, happy to live at home among humans, who lovingly cared for it, fed it and admired it.
A few months later, I invited my son to come visit me at my cabin in Vermont. Seeing that he was going to be gone for several days, my son decided to take his starling with him to the United States. Arriving at the border, with his bird perched on the back seat of the vehicle, he had to face a principled customs officer who stubbornly demanded to see a certificate proving that the (wild) bird was indeed …vaccinated (!).
The rules are the rules!
Failing to see the document, the customs officer strictly prohibited the entry of the son and his winged companion. The hour of separation seemed to have arrived. So it was with death in his soul that the son lowered the window of his car and forced the bird to take off. This cruel “forced release”, which the customs officer witnessed, allowed him to enter the United States alone.
After crossing the border, he drove a hundred meters then stopped, just to see in the sky where his starling had gone. What was his surprise to see that the bird was flying a few meters above the car. The next moment, the little winged companion ended up jumping out of the open door and went to rest peacefully… on the back seat of the vehicle!
History does not say whether, while flying over the border, the brilliant little bird thumbed its nose or gave the customs officer a thumbs up.
Hello borders!