Borders I forgot

Rivers Flow Through Mondays
2025.9.1

by Jun Rivers

A scattered sun fell upon my Sunday.
I stood at the gate to fly to India—
but I didn’t have a visa.

For the first time in years,
my Hong Kong passport failed to open a door.
I had forgotten what most people live with daily:
the weight of borders.

I’ve crossed many lines in my life—
countries, disciplines, identities—
so often that I came to believe
I could simply glide through space
with sincerity as my ticket,
and purpose as my permission.

But the world doesn’t always work that way.
Even purpose needs paperwork.
Even sincerity can be held back by a stamp missing in the system.

Still, I am grateful.
Grateful to be reminded
that the very project I’ve devoted myself to—
to build a home without borders,
a passport not of nation, but of values—
is not just idealistic poetry.
It is the path to harmony.

This week, I return to work with sharpened awareness.
EXP. is not just a company.
It is a quiet revolution
to weave together the disconnected,
to soften the divides of nation, class, and circumstance.

We are building a new kind of passport:
One that transcends borders.
One that opens doors,
not just across space,
but across hearts.

Let us remember why we’re building this.
Not for glory or growth alone,
but because every border we dissolve
is one less barrier for someone to live, work, and dream—
like we are doing, together, right now.