In Lak'ech - Julia Munson

In Lak’ech
Tu eres mi otro yo - You are my other me.
Si te hago daño a ti - If I do harm to you,
Me hago daño a mi mismo. - I do harm to myself.
Si te amo y respeto - If I love and respect you,
Me amo y respeto yo. - I love and respect myself.

In the Hopes and Dreams Room at Ochoa Elementary, we begin every meal with this poem. Around the Border Studies Program lately, it’s become a reminder to ground ourselves. We began our symposium with it this evening by asking all those who have supported us this semester to read it with us. The voices together rang louder than I imagined they would, and, as I am often in this program, I was swept over by a wave of thankfulness. This semester has not always been easy and I wouldn’t have wanted it that way. The world is a tough, violent place in many ways. Yet there is so much to be thankful for. Three of the students in the Hopes and Dreams Room came to our symposium tonight with their families, to say goodbye and thank you as I strove to find the words for what they mean to me.

As we prepare to leave the borderlands, I have been thinking often on community, of how those first days my time here seemed so short, how it seemed so impossible that I would develop relationships of such deep respect and gratitude with people I would see only for a few hours a week for fifteen weeks. Yet I have. The students, families, and teachers at my field study have taught me so much about how to be graciously and bravely in the world, how to stand up for what you believe in, and how to stand in solidarity. They have taught me to sing to pollitos, to run around the playground, and to find incredible joy in encountering insects in the compost. They have taught me to laugh, to imagine the world in new ways, to move beyond the fear of putting myself out there.

I have learned to step out of my comfort zone, to approach others with “Buenos días. ¿Como esta Ud.?” before they approach me. I have learned to introduce myself, to explain my existence in a place rather than seeking to hide it, to say goodbye with wholehearted thanks every time. This transformation has been a radical process, radical as in roots; the roots of strong relationships start in these actions, in cultivating that sense of respect. It’s been a matter of decolonizing my mind, of reaffirming our potential to connect in a world that seeks to divide us.