The Borders Within Us and Around Us

Words by Surf Safety Facilitator and Artist Azul Gutierrez.

It is about 3am and I can't sleep. Yesterday I visited San Diego's Border Field State Park with a group of womxn representing, Groundswell Community Project. I have to say I will remember everyones face in that group, because what we did was an offering of healing to that land and to the ocean that is sick and dying. There were 3 moms in the group with their daughters, guiding them and showing them the reality of this society. These moms are an inspiration to me. Following in their footsteps, I carry my future child in my womb as I live these experiences. We are carriers of the new humanity. Hopeful for a new generation that sees no separation and is guided by compassion.

We walked down the dirt path about a mile in towards the ocean. The smell of earth and sweet wild flowers filled the air. The sky was overcast and heavy with the marine layer. As we started getting closer to the water I could smell salt in the air and also a slight hint of sewer water. On this land there is a wall, a very large metal wall that is rusted by the salty air and ends where the ocean begins. On the other side of the wall, there is Mexico. A heart beating with hope, kids swimming in the ocean, families having a beach day, restaurants overlooking the sea and then this steel wall dividing the two countries. On the US side it is a protected state park, so there is no development and the presence of border patrol officials.

Miles of an empty beach with very poor water quality, the smell in the air is heavy. Smells of ocean water combined with too much sewer water coming from our own human civilization. The foam that washed up onto shore left a faint dirty green residue on the sand. On our walk there we found a dead bird and a seagull that looked bloated and sick. It was just nesting on the sand with a tired look in its eyes watching us pass by. These birds are a reflection of the health of mother ocean. As I'm carrying life inside of me right now, this made me really sad to see during our time there. A reminder of the environmental impacts humanity is having on the planet.

In the ocean there are no walls, no man made borders to filter out humans and cultures. In the ocean all life flows together as one, the same ocean touches all shores around the planet. The ocean refuses no river, all rivers are welcome to flow together as one. In nature there is no separation. Our interconnectedness is what keeps the earth alive. The animal kingdom knows no borders, they migrate freely to where they need to be, they take only what they need to survive in harmony with the planet. Like the birds, they migrate for their survival, depending on the seasons. The monarch butterflies fly for thousands of miles looking for food and shelter, moving in cycles with the seasons.

As humans we migrate for our survival as well, but the story behind human migration goes very different. Families are broken, cultures stripped away, ancestral wounding and survival to exist in a world that thrives on money becomes the objective. People come into the US escaping war, violence, injustice, abuse, lack of education and health-care, hunger and poverty. They risk it all, leaving their homelands and families behind, in hopes of a brighter future. In all this, survival is priority over the environment. We live in a fast paced world ruled by consumerism and disposable waste. Migrant workers labor long hours under the blazing sun out in the fields so we can feed the rest of society, yet we forget that they are essential... Their lives are vulnerable yet in their hearts there is that hope for a brighter future. They sing songs while they pick the fruits that sit in your refrigerator. These are strong resilient people.

All these thoughts go through my mind as we sit in the presence of this bordering wall. We lay out a blanket and with our colorful pens we express how this makes us feel. We shared stories, we talked, some tears shed. We walked towards the ocean holding hands and dipped our toes in the ocean. Here we were, just a group of 11 womxn making our presence be seen, rippling love and hope. Border patrol officials made sure we didn't get too close to the wall, the whole time it almost felt as if we were doing something illegal ourselves. We waved goodbye to the ones on the other side and made our way back to the parking lot.

We are birthing a new humanity, womxn are the sacred water carriers. What a wild place this earth can be and how fragile its existence is. There is darkness and there is light. There is so much beauty on this planet and there are still places that seem untouched by our own humanity. These pristine places exist thriving on their own, but still affected by our actions because everything is connected. My hope is to show my child all the beauty of this world, but to also realize that we have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to make this world a better place. The first step begins with healing and loving ourselves.