Wade: Fence will collect dust while schools remains underfunded

Editor’s note: This column is the last in a four-part series on the debate surrounding Sen. Steve Smith’s successful sponsorship of a senate bill to create a website to raise money with private donations to build a fence along the Arizona-Mexico border. Smith’s  and U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva's and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu's columns are already online.
 

Many proponents of border security suggest that using “Normandy-style barriers in strategic locations” or “The Dang Fence” would send a message to those that would use the lack of physical borders to enter the United States that we are strong and want them to stay out.

In my humble opinion, I would suggest that this would send the opposite message. Hiding behind a fence because you are afraid of your neighbor is weak. In communities throughout Arizona, we build homes with six- to eight-foot walls around them. As a result, we have very limited access to our neighbors on a minimum of one side but more typically three.

Unless you make a concerted effort to leave your isolated cocoon, it is most likely that you will not know or even have met your neighbors. By not doing so, you are only left to wonder or even fear what they might be about. On the other hand, if you were to remove those barriers then you would be surprised by what you have more in common than not.

I sincerely feel one thing you might have in common with your neighbor is the importance of education. Most civil societies place a high regard on the importance of education and expend enumerable resources to promote and improve access to those resources. I am not just talking about formal in-class education but social interaction as well (sports, band, etc.). Barriers stifle and limit contact creating narrow-minded communities.