Our real heritage is human

by Romina

Senior year of high school, I was editor of the student paper, and I got it into my head to produce a virtual Spanish edition.

This was in America Online days.

After some more thought, I decided it would be even cooler if we could get a school in Argentina to create an online paper in English, and then we could swap.

I'd always been curious about what I was missing out on not growing up in my birth country, and this seemed like a great way to demystify our experiences.

The administration approved, so I found a school in Argentina that was willing to participate. Then I asked other bilingual students to contribute articles that conveyed what life is like for us in the States, and I used a program on a school computer to lay out a very basic site.

We each posted our first editions in September.

It was 2001.

When 9/11 happened, I will never forget the outpouring of love we received from that school in Argentina. I was overwhelmed by students’ messages of concern and hope and solidarity. It felt like the whole world was with us, and my project paid off in ways I never could have anticipated.

Rather than exposing the differences between being brought up in one country or the other, it taught me that borders are illusory.

The lines we draw on this planet are invisible to the universe. Our real heritage is human.

#NeverForget