When a young man I built many walls, walls of many types and designs. They were strong and they mostly just delineated one property from a neighbor’s. A way of saying, ‘I’ll keep my grass cut on this side of the wall and you can do whatever you want on your side.’ I read recently about the ‘Great Wall of China’, thousands of miles of wall, long and high enough to keep invaders out. Like everything else there are those who do not like walls and others who believe they make ‘Good Neighbors’. I have always enjoyed the poem, ‘Mending Walls’ by Robert Frost;
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
Do fences make good neighbors? A pacifist may ask the question, “Why can’t we just get along?” I think most people do try to get along and would like to get along.
Having the freedom to visit other people, other places, other countries is educational, not only educational but enlightening. To learn how other people live and love and how they do things differently than we do is an eye opening experience. We recently visited Switzerland and we just loved their beautiful, green and well kept country. We watched the age old autumn custom of celebrating the bringing of the cows, goats and sheep down from summer pasture in the higher mountains. We visited the famous cheese factory, where they made their famous Swiss cheese, among other types. In Berne, we watched the famous city square clock strike the hour and watched the various mechanical characters come out and perform their famous routines. We took train and tram rides high into the Alps to view breathtaking sites. I am glad that there is no wall around Switzerland. There are many places that we have been that I am glad there were no walls.
Why must there be walls? It appears that the number one reason to have walls, is also the same reason why there should be ‘no need for walls’. That reason is primarily religion! I have always believed that religions, in general, teach love and brotherly kindness. But obviously, that doesn’t always hold true because the varied religionists do not get along with each other, generally. They each think that their religion is true and that the others are false, and anyone believing such nonsense, as they do, is ignorant. For example, although violence between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland has subsided in recent years, tensions between the two sects still persist. ‘A series of barriers known as “peace lines” divide portions of Belfast, Derry, Portadown, and other urban centers to minimize contact between nationalist Catholics, who identify as Irish and Protestants who often self-identify as British. The peace lines range from a few hundred yards to several miles in length. Some have guarded entry points open during the day but closed at night. First constructed in 1969 as a temporary solution to that year’s Northern Ireland riots, they soon became permanent thanks to their effectiveness.’
The world is changing, the Christmas song is right, “There is no peace on earth”. Because of the recent conflicts in Syria and other ‘Middle Eastern’ countries, Muslim refugees, from these countries, have been invited to find refuge in Europe. Europe had recently adopted the concept of Brexit, or open borders, where Europeans can move freely from one country to another on the continent. So when one country welcomes in Muslim refugees, those refugees are also free to go wherever they want to on the whole continent, to any country; there are no borders. Muslim beliefs are so contrary to Christian beliefs that with just a few years of being together, there are already major conflicts and problems. Muslims claim to be a peaceful religion. However, their religion as described in the Koran, even encourages the killing of infidels. Christians, to them, are infidels. Even to lie to infidels is approved in the Koran. Europeans who are mostly Christians, are taught not to lie. There are so many contrary teachings by the two religions that they are not a good fit. It was a big mistake. Rather than open their hearts and borders to Muslim refugees they should have built a wall to keep them out. When peace returns to the Middle East, many Muslims will want to return to their home country. Countries, sympathetic to the refugee cause, should have just provided immigrant camps in protected peace zones in the middle east and provided them with the necessities of life. When the middle east countries return to peace, they could all, easily return to their homes and places of origin.
Where there are major differences, walls may be the only answer. There are more than sixty countries who now have walls to keep migrants, ‘others’ out. The United States, the greatest and most prosperous country in the world, accepts thousands of immigrants every year. At the same time we have many thousands more, who try to get into the country illegally. The majority of these people cross over the border through Mexico. Many are undesirable, thieves, drug runners and even killers. The President and the majority of Republicans in this country want a wall to help keep illegals out and to be able to better control who is admitted as immigrants. The Democrats are opposed to the wall; they prefer open borders. What we have right now, is a political wall between the two primary parties, (Democrats and Republicans). ‘Good fences, walls make good neighbors? Yes, in many cases, but not between the opposing political parties in the same country.