Chazimal NM
The Chamizal Memorial resides in El Paso, TX, with Cuidad Juarez, MX right next store. The two cities are like cousins…similar bones, but very different looks & personalities.
On my recent way home from North Carolina to Arizona, I stopped at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. (More on that to come.) I drove through Guadalupe Mountains NP and onto Salt Flat, TX.
A ghost town sits therein, once populated by 120+ souls back in the ‘40s. The few buildings remaining are crumbling faster than dry cake.
As with much of the land in this country, these salt fields saw a lot of fighting in the past. Back and forth between them and us and us and them.
Just west of Salt Flat is El Paso & Cuidad Juarez. That land, too, was the site of many battles. More land, more war. To exacerbate the fury further, the Rio Grande weaves through these two very dry, dusty, and hot cities. Water is life, after all.
As such, Chamizal was pushed and pulled like a rope between the two countries until our governments realized that nobody wins at that game. Cue the ending to the movie War Games…”The only winning move is not to play.”
Indeed.
Hence, the Chamizal treaty ended the land dispute between the US and Mexico after 100+ years. Interestingly, the dispute ended with each country crediting the natures of both Benito Juarez and Abraham Lincoln as inspirations for peace. Both of these men favored diplomacy and humility.
And so when you visit Chamizal’s visitor center, you’ll see beautiful messages of unity within diversity. Quotes that encourage us to focus on our commonalities, rather than our differences.
Despite what many want to argue these days, pronouns are very important. Particularly the them’s and the us’s.
Minimal solutions are to be had with thinking in binary extremes such as them OR us. Black OR white. Or, as in War Games, X’s or O’s.
Commonality AND peace are often found in the gray.
Them AND us.
Chamizal is proof that the world can be *we.*
Between you & I….
Got a web link? Yup. https://www.nps.gov/cham/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm
Will I revisit it? Nope
Fees? Nope, it’s free!
Hotel or camping on site? Nope
Good for Kids? Yup
