In 1946, Winston Churchill coined the expression, ”Iron Curtain.”  It referred to a political demarcation, a border, between Communist Russian influenced Eastern Europe and Democratic Western Europe.

In subsequent years, It became common to refer to the counties between communist China and capitalist states in Southeast Asia as the bamboo curtain.

The idea of a “soft” border, a “curtain,” seemed like a natural progression in the story of global power. Political actions, no longer mountain ranges or oceans or even language and ethnicity, had come to define identity in many contexts.

Now, it seems Americans are living behind a Crime Scene Tape Curtain, and I’m trying to figure out my identity again; social, political and personal.

I know, my recent urge for distraction has led me to watch too many reruns of Castle, where a team of New York detectives work to solve murders in the Big Apple. Almost every episode opens with shots of crime scene tape. But I’ve also been directed to contemplate artificial borders by going on early spring walks in my neighborhood.

There is colorful tape around new trees everywhere.

When it comes to crime scene tape, the purpose of the tape is to tell passersby not disturb anything because an investigation is going on.

But putting up tape, like building a wall along the border between the US and Mexico is, physically, not much of a deterrent.

The question arises; What are such borders for?

Are borders intended to protect the people inside or to keep the people inside isolated and mistrustful of influences from beyond the border.

I don’t think a young sapling is actually made safer from a hearty stream of pee from a Doberman by encircling it with day-glow tape or an eight-inch high fence.

I am pretty sure putting up barriers, “curtains,” around countries, by nations or political factions, will never be a long-term solution for realizing greater safety and prosperity.

But some people in positions of influence in this country have made fear their currency of choice. These lucky few, to who so much has been given, have strategically and consistently put efforts into making people fearful of change, of convincing so many that something of value is being taken from them. All this leads to is isolation which is not healthy for individuals or nations.

This country that offered such fresh ideas and structures for self-governing has forgotten that we all have different talents and all need to work together to make earth a good home.

This country that promised to keep striving to become “a more perfect union” has become a crime scene. The only thing that has come to matter is money. And fewer  and fewer people contol more and more of the money.

And I think of soft borders again, arbitrary labels, ascribed by a political entity with its  own agenda. They aim to identify us by our differences, and I have a deeper knowing that the only thing that is going to save us is identifying by our sameness, as human beings.

Beyond being a globalist, I guess I’m a humanist.

The only laws that matter to me are ones that are not so intrinsically tied up with wealth and property, laws that focus on individual rights and dignity.

People are up in arms about the insanity of our new tariffs and trade policy. Of course, they have been made to appeal to some people’s pride and may have been timed to benefit s small circle. (Don’t you wish the detectives from Castle could investigate insider trading instead of a Justice Department that starts with a desired conclusion then looks for evidence that allows for the possibility of their view?)

What country will want to do business with us in the future after thoughtlessly wrecking the world economy. The same common sense laws that apply to individuals apply to countries. It’s even in the bible. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

I try to stay sane by making calls into red districts, asking voters to pressure their congressman to protect Medicaid, and I continue to volunteer for a hospice organization. That’s how I remember who I am.

Guiding your life by what is important, not just by what is current, is no small thing.