In Between Pictures

These pictures were taken from the train near Palm Springs, CA, and El Paso, TX. Neither was my destination, but I felt compelled to document each of them. All of these images look dusty, which is due in part to the fact that these places are dusty, but also due to the sepia tinge that Amtrak's aged windows add to pictures taken through them.

If you've talked to me for very long, you know that I care about the environment, and that I think renewable energy generation is an important step we must make toward make our society more sustainable. So I found the hundreds (almost certainly thousands) of wind turbines near Palm Springs, CA, heartening. We actually did stop there for a smoking/fresh air break, so I can personally attest to the wisdom of siting the turbines there. I don't know how people managed to light their cigarettes in the blustery wind, but on Amtrak, there is little that can stand between a smoker and a smoking break.


As we neared El Paso, we also neared Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which holds a special place in my heart. In this picture, you can see the border wall and Juarez behind it. I visited Juarez four times in high school with Amor Ministries, building houses over spring break each time. After my senior year, Amor stopped working there because of escalating drug cartel violence, around the time the state department began to issue severe travel warnings for Juarez. It makes me sad, because I know that there are good, beautiful people in that city. I only know a handful whom I built houses for, but surely there are hundreds of thousands more. The demand for drugs elsewhere and the violence of the cartels in the city strangle the good work that people want to do there.


The border is has a lot of industry along it, probably due to the abundance of cheap labor on one side for factories on both sides, which may very well be owned by corporations in neither country.


I barely caught this last one. Who knows what's in this tank, or what it has to do with Jesus? Someone affirms that he lives, and I believe this too, but I'm torn as to how to take the message in this context. Is it heartening, signifying to people that drab industrial work and industrial pollution are not the last word on life? Jesus said we could see him in the faces of the poor, and I think if I spent enough time in the area, I would. So in spite of industry, Jesus lives among the people here.


But I can't shake this idea, that if Jesus does live, why are things still drab, dry, and polluted? Shouldn't we make something better if our Lord lives? Ultimately, both of these responses coexist within me, wanting something better while acknowledging Jesus' presence in an imperfect world.

Peace to you,