We are going to sign a treaty with Mexico. We are competing

In the words of Richard M. Daley, spoken with the urgency of one who sees far beyond his own time, we hear a call to vision and to preparation: “We are going to sign a treaty with Mexico. We are competing internationally. We need another international airport for international cargo, international travel, international businesses.” Though born of politics and policy, these words carry a truth as old as empires—that the prosperity of a people depends upon their ability to open their gates to the world, to connect across borders, and to build bridges that carry both goods and ideas.

To speak of signing a treaty is to invoke the art of peace, the ancient practice of binding nations not by sword, but by word. Treaties have long been the lifeblood of civilizations, from the pacts of Greek city-states to the alliances of Renaissance kings. Each signature is more than ink upon parchment; it is a pledge that trade shall flow instead of blood, that cooperation shall rise where conflict once threatened. In Daley’s words we hear this same desire—that a bond with Mexico would not only strengthen one city or one state, but bind together peoples who share land, labor, and destiny.

The emphasis on competing internationally reminds us that no city, no nation, stands alone. The ancients knew this when they watched the rise of Carthage upon the seas, whose harbors made it a merchant queen of the Mediterranean. Rome, perceiving that her survival depended upon equal or greater reach, built fleets, roads, and ports that stretched her influence across continents. In the same way, Daley’s vision is not mere expansion of an airport, but a recognition of the eternal truth: that those who fail to compete in the global arena are left behind, their voices drowned by the stronger and the swifter.

And so he calls for another international airport—a modern harbor, not for ships of wood, but for wings of steel. This is not only about runways and terminals, but about the creation of a gateway through which cargo, travelers, and businesses may pass. Each plane that lands or departs is a thread woven into the fabric of global commerce, a living artery carrying lifeblood into the body of the city. Just as the port of Piraeus fed Athens, just as the Silk Road enriched China and Rome alike, so too does the airport of today become the marketplace of tomorrow.

Yet there is more than commerce here. To speak of international travel is to speak of the meeting of peoples, the mingling of cultures, the sharing of languages and ideas. The ancients held their Olympiads, where strangers from across Greece gathered in peaceful contest, and from those gatherings came not only sport, but philosophy, art, and friendship. Daley’s call is not only for an airport of stone and steel, but for a meeting ground of humanity, where differences converge and unity is born through exchange.

Consider the building of the Panama Canal, one of the great feats of human endeavor. It was not constructed merely for the movement of ships, but to bind the oceans together, to shorten journeys, and to make the world itself more closely knit. Though its purpose was commerce, its result was the reshaping of history. In the same way, Daley’s vision for an airport is not only practical but prophetic, for such works shape the destiny of peoples far more than words alone can tell.

The lesson is clear: to thrive, we must open ourselves to the world. We must not hide behind walls of comfort or narrowness, but build gateways, sign treaties, and compete with vigor in the great marketplace of nations. The city that opens its skies prospers, the people that close their gates wither. Let us therefore not fear the vastness of the world, but embrace it, preparing not only our airports, but our minds and hearts for international exchange.

So I say to you: when the moment comes to build, to connect, to reach beyond your borders, do not hesitate. Sign the treaty. Build the gateway. Welcome the traveler. Compete with honor. For those who embrace the world shall shape it, and those who shut it out shall vanish from its story.