Blogging from Shanghai, part 16

Circularity. Every morning I have been going to the park across from the East China University School of Political Science and Law for a morning jog. By 7 a.m., the park is already filled with seniors doing their morning exercise–different forms of tai chi, stretching, walking, dancing, movement. It’s an amazing, wonderful sight.

One particular woman has caught my attention. She situates herself in the same spot amid a grove of trees on a patch of dirt about the size of a large automobile tire. She walks gracefully, and slowly in a circular motion around the circle on the ground that is smoothed by her walking motion. One day she will be walking clockwise; today, she was walking counter-clockwise. She is in a trance. Her hands and arms flow slowly. She is meditating as she walks. She is peaceful in the circular motion. The circularity is a smooth complete motion that brings peace to her soul, and to others who take the time to watch her motion.

There is much to be said for this peace that comes from the circle. The true effect is likely beyond my comprehension. But there is something complete that I can sense.

This is the type of circularity that has been cut off ans stifled that I used to witness from my Mexican clients who traveled to the U.S. frequently and returned regularly to their homes in Mexico. This circularity has been severed by the militarization of the border that has occurred since the institution of Operation Gatekeeper along the border in the early 1990s, the 3 and 10-year bars of 1996 immigration reform, and the further militarization of the border since 9/11. We have severed the sense of peace that occurred at the border and replaced it with a violent presence that has created a zone of sadness and tension.

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