Editor’s note: Amigos805 welcomes local guest columns, letters to the editor and other submissions from our readers. All opinions expressed in submitted material are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of Amigos805.

By David Magallanes • Guest contributor

Walls have many purposes: privacy, protection, gentrification, separation, isolation, keeping people in, keeping people out. Lately, we are hearing about one particular and unnecessary big, beautiful (and humongously costly) militarized wall that our government is threatening to erect as a hard slap in the face to former friend and ally, Mexico. We are told that one big reason for the wall is to keep drugs out. But we are choosing to ignore the reasons for those drugs coming in: our own addictions. There would be no drug traffic if we were to gain control of our own destructive impulses.

Walls also serve as imagery, metaphors and are incorporated in a few Mexican dichos, which are snippets of wisdom culled from generations of sometimes hard-earned enlightenment. I came across one that provided me with some rich material for introspection: “No da paso seguro quien corre por el muro,” which might be loosely translated as, “Whoever runs along the tops of walls is not on firm ground.” Which might be obvious on its face, but the way in which many of us proceed throughout certain areas of our lives without really committing one way or another, we have to wonder if we actually grasp the concept.

This saying isn’t exactly equivalent to the advice “put your feet on the ground” that we often hear or give. It’s more like confronting the question, “On which side are you going to stand?” Our ancestors knew that if we find ourselves dangerously running along the tops of walls, then we’re not being decisive enough in a given aspect of our lives. That, or we’re running away from the police. In either case, we’re in trouble.

— David Magallanes is a writer, speaker and professor of mathematics.

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Corriendo Por el Muro

Por David Magallanes • Columnista invitado

Las paredes tienen muchos propósitos: privacidad, protección, gentrificación, separación, aislamiento, mantener a la gente adentro, mantener a la gente fuera. Últimamente, hemos estado conscientes de un gran, hermoso (y enormemente costoso) y militarizado muro particular e innecesario que nuestro gobierno está amenazando con erigir, dando un bofetón a su ex-amigo y aliado, México. Nos dicen que una razón principal del muro es para mantener fuera a las drogas. Pero estamos eligiendo ignorar las razones por las cuales entran esas drogas: nuestras propias adicciones. No habría tráfico de drogas si nos pusiéramos a controlar nuestros propios impulsos destructivos.

Las paredes también sirven como imágenes, metáforas y se incorporan en algunos dichos mexicanos, que son fragmentos de sabiduría seleccionados de generaciones anteriores, proveyendo iluminación a veces duramente ganada. Encontré uno que me proporcionó mucho en qué pensar: “No da paso seguro al corre por el muro”. Tal vez sea obvio, pero debido a la forma en que muchos de nosotros procedemos con respecto a ciertos aspectos de nuestras vidas sin realmente comprometernos de una manera u otra, nos tenemos que preguntar si realmente agarramos la onda.

Este dicho no es exactamente equivalente al consejo “pon tus pies sobre la tierra” que a menudo damos o escuchamos. Más bien, es como enfrentarse a la pregunta: “¿De qué lado estás?” Nuestros antepasados ??sabían que si nos encontramos corriendo peligrosamente a lo largo de las cimas de las paredes, entonces no somos lo suficientemente decisivos en cierto aspecto de nuestras vidas. Eso, o estamos huyendo de la policía. En cualquier caso, estamos en problemas.

— David Magallanes es un escritor, orador y profesor de matemáticas.

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