Many of the people trying to cross the border weren't as lucky. Their efforts to leave the situation they find themselves in only cause them a different kind of pain. The lack of safety for these people was astonishing. Like Jessie, I was struck by Anazulda's description of living there and the realistic portrayal of what it was like to live there. As Natalie said, I also loved the realistic writing that Anazulda brought to this piece. He didn't try to lighten the tone or make it lighter than the reality of the situations. He brought the reality of what happened there to life in his writings, which I really admire. The image that Brooke highlights from Borderlands on page 2 is a very clear image of being trapped in a place you can't escape. While I hadn't thought about curtains this way, I understand the reasoning. Curtains should provide privacy, shelter from the outside world. Yet these steel tents are prisons, preventing those around them from escaping. As Jessie pointed out, the United States is governed to protect the rights of every American citizen, including each of us. However, Anazulda and many others who attempt to cross the border may be subject to the rules of those who live near the borders and not the U.S. laws that exist to protect them. I didn't think about the call for unity Natalie describes until I read her essay. Although he does not take the situation caused in the United States lightly, he leaves the impression of hope that we can solve the problem. We can make these borders less of the walls that divide us, and we can make the journey to our country less terrible and terrifying.