One of my favorite buildings on campus is the Fed Ex Global Education Center. I have two classes per week in that building, and it's always interesting to walk through the lobby and become immersed in a culture outside my own. One of the most compelling this year was a display about the immigrant experience, particularly the "illegal" immigrant one. Duct tape lined the floor from the beginning of the lobby to the exit symbolizing the border between the United States and Mexico. On either side of the tape were images of articles of clothing, shoes, toothbrushes, trash etc. Snapshots of a life left behind.
I imagined myself in their shoes for a minute. I'm trying to cross illegally an din the process of coming know I can not be weighed down by excess items. I can't imagine what I would leave behind, how I could start with nothing more than the clothes on my back and have any real expectation of a better life. The exhibit in the Global Ed Center made me consider my position on the US side of that line and how people literally die trying to reach it. How lucky am I?
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