Border. Noun. A line separating two countries, administrative divisions or other areas. Similar: boundary, partition.
Border. Hope. An endpoint, a goal, a danger, a beacon in a sea of destruction. Similar: last resort, best chance of survival.
Society is split
into two.
Those who have everything; those who have nothing.
Those who want; those who need.
Those who don’t care; those who do.
A picture-perfect world or an ideal would have everyone living peacefully side by side. Have everyone be equal in wealth, in status, in power. Sure, people have tried. But the fragments of our society have only broken further.
Our world has countries fighting. Has 1% of the world’s population owning 54% of the world’s wealth. Has uneven divides between people in terms of status and power.
It’s because of these things that a border becomes important.
Vital.
For both good and bad things.
It symbolises safety to some, whether they’re crossing over it or staying inside it. For others it is a symbol of importance – those on one side are more important than those on the other. Again, society splits. But the border never has a window. A way of seeing the lives of people on the other side. A way of knowing all life is precious and can fall apart with a word.
Ultimately, there is always a minority and a majority wherever, whenever you go.
Always.
And one side is oppressing the other. Take major events that have caused hundreds, thousands, even millions of refugees and there are often motives of racism or oppression at the centre of it all.
There is a point when opinion becomes prejudice. Unfortunately, many people are on the wrong side of the line – whether they realise it or not. They form conclusions or ideas about groups of people that are based on little evidence or experience. This forces those on the receiving end Over the Border.
Countless people having to leave their homes – once a place of safety, now no longer – as a result of opinion, prejudice, persecution.