We love you, America.

Why do you make it such a pain in the ass to cross over?

Have you crossed the border recently? Have you felt that your life was being wasted while waiting 2, 3 hours to cross? There’s really not much one can do about those long waits across the Tijuana — San Diego border. Besides chatting, eating or reading, the border cross in an act of endurance.

It was 2007 when the situation started to annoy me personally. I had to drive to L.A. for a special showing of Paprika, an anime OVA just released a couple months back in Japan. I drove to the border early, about 7 a.m. I figured 1 hour to cross about 2 and half to get to Los Angeles. I could do lunch with my pals.

Sadly, I spent the next 3 hours in line, at the border. The queue simply did not move. At all. I was furious. And the way the border area is built, once you get in line there is no way out. It took me more time to get across the border than to drive to L.A. Hell! If I were on a plane, I could have been in Mexico City in the same amount of time. That’s how ridiculous this whole situation is.

I had forgotten that horrible experience until a couple of weeks ago when I wrote The new Berlin wall, and an interesting debate started among some of my peers, mostly centered on WHY we cross the border. For the cynics, the easiest answer to the border wait is a simple «don’t cross the border». But the truth is there are thousands of people that need to cross. Every. Single. Day. That’s an average of 10-15 hours of waiting on 5 day workweek. Sometimes more than that. Can you imagine that commute? The fuel spent? The neurotic state-of-mind of the drivers? I have seen people intentionally crashing their cars on to the next guy for line cutting. Fist fights even. Pure madness.

But people still need to cross.

So, why do we cross the border?

Family. Most of us border folk have family and dear friends.

Work. Legally. Maybe this is news for some but a couple of million mexicans (and legal residents who live in Mexico) cross the border to work everyday.

Shopping. No explanation needed.

Disneyland. And all the other fun stuff one can do in the United States.

Furthermore, there is another reason we cross over: because we CAN and because we LOVE it. We love your country. And we wan’t to visit. We really do. We love the malls, the food and the parks. We love your beaches, your bars and your streets. We love your cities, your skyscrappers.

We love you, America. Why do you make it such a pain in the ass to cross over?