THE WALL

So much talk about "the Wall" and the border causes me to remember my "border crossings". When I was young (which was a long time ago), we thought nothing of driving down to Nuevo Laredo or Reynosa, Mexico. Those were two border towns which made a good living from the "gringos" who liked to go there, get some good bargains and a few good mixed drinks. My parents who lived in Corpus Christi had been making trips down there years before I came along. They told me of one trip they made with about six friends to a bullfight in Nuevo Laredo in about 1940. They had a grand old time drinking beer, yelling from the stands and actually cheering the bull. Evidently they got too rowdy and were arrested. (This surprised me because my father was definitely not the rowdy type) They were carted off to jail (juzgado in Spanish, from which we get the word hoosegow) where the men were locked up and the women left to weep and moan outside the jail door. See we women didn't have equal rights then. It's not always a blessing.
Anyway the men were told they could leave if they paid a fine. When they asked how much the fine was, the jailer replied, "How much cash do you have on you?". The men emptied their pockets and the jailer seemed satisfied so they were released. When they finally got back to their cars they were wondering how they would get back across the border with no cash when my Daddy proudly whipped off his hat and showed them that he had enough money to get back home. He always carried a little cash on the inside of his hat.
Well, I got off the subject a bit. So what. Back to the Wall. It seems such a shame that there is no longer the feeling of freedom in being able to drive back and forth between Texas and Mexico. When I was in college in Kingsville, Texas, we would pop down to Nuevo Laredo for dining and dancing or go to the Valley for the weekend so we could party in Reynosa, across from McAllen. Most of us could speak Spanish and it didn't matter much because almost all the Mexicans on the border could speak English.
Now the atmosphere is so rife with hate that to speak another language here in the U.S. is tantamount to treason. It is my belief that we all should speak at least two languages which would help us understand others better.
Enough rambling for one day. Hasta manana

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