Robert Frost’s Poem, Mending Wall, aptly illustrates the benefits of borders. Frost describes a pair of neighbors who go about repairing the wall between their properties each spring. The repetitive phase throughout the poem is “good fences make good neighbors”. This line can be translated in the context of the poem to mean that although they have a divide between them, the fence itself is what improves their relationship. The fence ensures that the neighbors don’t aggravate each other or intrude on one another’s property. The simple act of mending the wall together constitutes an unspoken agreement of respect of the borders between the two men.
The same principle employed in Mending Wall can be applied to the way in which the world’s countries are divided up. The borders between nations are needed to prevent conflict and improve relations. For example, Russia and the Republic of Georgia’s border are essential to the tentative peace lasting between the two countries for two years. Another instance of the essentiality of borders is between the U.S. and Mexico. With the ongoing debate of immigration constantly in the news and in the minds of individuals, the Mexican-American border has continually become more stringent. Just imagine the problems to be incurred from dissolving that border and having no divide between our two nations.
While borders prevent conflict, they also succeed in sustaining the culture of a particular group of people. Countries have their own languages, foods, traditions, and lifestyles. Borders aid in containing these cultural nuances within the collection of inhabitants sharing commonalities with their fellow citizens. Having separate nation-states enables each individual sovereign territory to set its own laws to be obeyed by its citizens. Without separation, it would be difficult to agree on governing laws for different groups of people with distinct cultural guidelines.
I would like to say that the phrase "Good fences make good neighbors" is correct in a sense that each nation state respects these borders and maintain their sovereignty on their respective sides. However, the issue with the borders is that there are cases where the "fences" are not necessarily "good fences." The concept of a border, which is derived from the concept of territoriality, is basically an agreement between nation-states; I have this piece of land and you have that area, and we respect your authority and autonomy in your area while you do the same for me. However, the reality is not always like the mini-conversation mentioned above. If the border, or the nation's sovereignty or territoriality is denied by another nation, then theoretically, one nation doesn't recognize the other as a nation and may take any actions they think is correct.
ReplyDeleteTo summarize, good fences make good neighbors, but good fences are hard to make.
I agree with Chul Hun. Borders, whether physical or cultural, are a good way to keep nation-states separate, but not always easy to see or enforce. For example, the United States and Canada. Yes, we have our physical border - the boundaries between our countries. But look at the cultural aspect. Canada is very much like the United States, which begs the question of why we have a border between seemingly the same country and whether there really is a border at all.
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