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I grew up in Port Huron, Mich., along the St. Clair River. Some of my earliest memories are of looking across that river at Canada.
It never felt like a foreign country to me. It was simply our neighbor. As children we would stand along the river and wave to people on the other side, and sometimes they would wave back. My family even had Canadians in it. That was just part of life. I learned at a very young age that a border could separate two countries without separating people.
Those memories have come back to me in recent months, and honestly, they make my heart ache.
I am saddened by the way our Canadian neighbors are being talked about and treated. I understand that nations have disagreements. I understand that politics can be complicated. But I also believe there are some things that should never become political, and kindness, respect and friendship are among them. The people across that river were never enemies to me. They were people we knew, people we waved to, people who were part of our lives.
Maybe growing up beside that river taught me something that we need to remember today. We are neighbors before we are anything else. We can be proud Americans and still care deeply about the people next door. We can disagree with governments and policies without looking at an entire nation of people with anger or contempt. We can stand up for what we believe while still treating others with dignity.
I still picture myself as that kid standing along the river, looking across at Canada and waving. There was no hostility in that simple gesture. There was no fear. There was just a child recognizing another human being on the other side of the water.
I wish we could hold on to a little more of that today. I wish we could remember that the people across the border have families, hopes, worries and dreams just like we do. They are not strangers. They are our neighbors.
And for me, they always will be.
Doug Hearn is a Warren resident.