Bridges are better than a walls

Please accept my heartfelt thank you to the editorial board of The Olympian for their editorial “CIELO supports Latino community” in the Wednesday newspaper. I am one of the many volunteers at CIELO, and I am a witness to the bridges that CIELO builds. These are bridges from the isolation of recent immigrants to vibrant educational communities and to resources. These are bridges that allow recent college graduates to teach as volunteer tutors. These are bridges for community members who want to be part of a solution in a world with so many problems.

These connections are in contrast to U.S. political rhetoric today to build a wall—a big, long, giant wall. Bill Staines, a folk singer who has sung at Traditions, eloquently makes this comparison of walls to bridges: “[bridges] are languages and letters. They are poetry and awe. They are love and understanding. And they’re better than a wall.” CIELO, you build bridges; you ARE a bridge—and thank you so much for giving us hope and for being so much better—and much more necessary—than a wall. Finally, thank you to our community for their support of CIELO.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Bridges are better than a walls."