What is a wall?
How would you define it?
A barrier, maybe.
Yes, maybe. But a barrier to what?
A prevention of movement.
But the world is always moving.
Whether you acknowledge it or not.
We're moving through space. The tides move. People move. Life moves.
Life is movement.
To protect?
From what, exactly?
To protect from the bogeyman outside your door -
- the undefined, abstract, ill-conceived 'other' -
- denoted only by skin colour or language or the clothes they wear or the people they love or the experiences they've had.
Why do you need protecting from these people?
You may claim it's because they're criminals or dangerous.
But don't you have criminals and dangers on your side?
Don't you have weapons and death and pain on your side, too?
And what makes them somehow more dangerous than you?
Is it just that they make you uncomfortable - they don't look like you, don't sound like you, don't have the same customs or backgrounds as you?
Why do those things somehow make themselves lesser in your eyes?
Is it because you're scared of something else? Scared of something so big that it feels better to give it the image of a faceless mass of strangers whose skin is darker than yours?
Are you scared because there really is no difference between them and you?
Are you scared because people fleeing from danger or hardship make you think about how close danger and hardship are to you?
Do they remind you of your own mortality?
Do they remind you of your own helplessness in the face of the whirling, changing, world?
Does that scare you?
What is a wall?
Is it a barrier to stop yourselves from thinking of the things that really scare you?
Is it a sticking plaster on the wounds of your nation and the graves of your schools?
Are you hoping that it will fill the hole in your hearts?
Are you hoping that hurting others will lessen the hurt you feel?
Are you hoping that hurting others will lessen the hurt you feel?
Do you just need something to hide behind?
Are you hoping that, if you build your walls high enough, you can hide your insecurities?
Are you hoping that you can hide from your problems?
That it might turn out that everything wrong in your life can't be easily blamed on someone with less power or privilege than you?
Are you hoping that you can ward off tragedy, as if misfortune is contagious?
What is a wall?
Is it simply a nation hiding from the truth?
So, tell me, what is a wall?
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Last updated: 2nd March 2019
This is so good and very needed right now. Everything you said makes a good point. I like to think a wall is a block in your mind, and keeping it closed, keeps your views closed off as well x
ReplyDeleteThank you. And eloquently said! :)
DeleteWow Cee. You really blew my mind with this one.
ReplyDeleteHa, I hope that's a good thing! ;)
Delete*blushes* well thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it. <3
ReplyDeleteI liked how you presented this post. It's something that I think more people need to think about. It's just too easy to demonise other people if you don't take a moment to think about how they are just people too.
ReplyDeleteThanks! And yes, so true.
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