Today, as I ride up through western New York in a pickup truck headed to Niagara Falls, I reflect on the majesty of nature that is about to unfold before my very eyes. Niagara Falls is the second biggest waterfall in the world, second to only Angel Falls in Venezuela. Niagara Falls, while stunningly beautiful, also personifies something much deeper. Niagara Falls personifies the power of nature and the moral obligation we have to preserve such natural beauty for future generations to come and to enjoy.
We are not meant to be conquerors of the Earth. We are not meant to take advantage of it by stripping it of it's valuable resources. We are supposed to be good stewards and take what we truly need and leave the rest for future generations. We are suppose to be proactive and mitigate any damage that we cause so it does not snowball as a problem for future generations to solve.
Niagara Falls personifies the ability of humans to fully appreciate nature when nature is left untouched. Niagara Falls helps to stimulate local economies including, but not limited to, lodging and meals. This helps to create a myriad of jobs in a variety of sectors because businesses in a capitalist society typically are interdependent upon one another. Niagara Falls also personifies peaceful relationships among nations.
The United States and Canada peacefully share a border and have warm relations. Control of who comes and goes is able to be maintained and exerted without divisiveness such as suggestions of, or actually building, a wall which deeply divides our nation and causes many to question who we are as a nation and as a people.
The notion of a wall, to many, stands against our founding principles and heritage as a land of immigrants. Even among fellow tourists there was a rich diversity of individuals who spoke a variety of tongues, practice a myriad of faiths and were from a variety of creeds. This truly personifies the American melting pot, a land of diversity that helps to make us unique among nations. This diversity is not a downfall but is, indeed, our strength.
Our diversity shows the world that we are more than simply a race, a religion, a language; we are Americans. Our diversity gives the world hope. Our peaceful coexistence serves as a shining example to the world. Ideas such as banning all Muslims from entering the United States would not only undermine our message of peace to the world, but would render us as no more than hypocrites, and vestiges of the bastion of freedom and democracy that we would once be but would be no longer. The Niagara Falls are renowned for their beauty, but the message that they send, as noted previously, conveys a much deeper message that is worthy of our time and consideration.
