Walls
Man is
The great wall builder
The Berlin Wall
The Wailing Wall of Jerusalem
But the wall
most impregnable
Has a moat
Flowing with fright
Around his heart
A wall without windows
For the spirit to breeze through
A wall
without a door
for love to walk in.
Oswald Mtshali
Soweto poet
This is a most appropriate poem to read, ponder, and take to heart (sic) at the beginning of each day. What better and well intentioned way could there be to start the day than swimming or building a bridge across the moat of fear, installing windows for the spirit and building a door for love in one’s own heart? Mtshali is a 75 year old South African poet who grew up and survived with spirit and heart on the black side of the Apartheid wall. He knows some things about impregnable walls that most people reading this have the good fortune to never experience. Lucky us.
Still, structures like the Berlin Wall, the Great Wall of China and other monolithic structures are only the most visible and acknowledged impregnable walls separating the fearful from the feared, the haves from the have nots. There are many kinds of walls built by the innumerable fears of man that keep the spirit of freedom from breezing through and love, and thereby understanding, from walking in. Who in their right mind wants to live with a moat flowing with fright around his or her heart? Who are they who want to build another wall of fear to keep ‘the other’ out, to keep separate ‘us’ and ‘them,’ an impregnable wall lacking spirit, heart and love?
Unfortunately, ‘they’ are many more in number than many others, including me, can comprehend. We all know people who fearfully live behind impregnable walls surrounding the mind, heart and spirit and, sometimes, the physical body in a self-made penitentiary, though they are definitely not penitents. And there is this—every human has some walls built to guard against some real or imaginary fear, not all of them impregnable. Likely the highest profile wall builder in America today is presidential candidate Don ‘The Trumpster’ Trump, who said, “I will build a great wall—and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me‑‑and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
Yes, mark them, and remember the words of Oswald Mtshali.
Personally, I like the observation of Isaac Newton, who had lots more hair, intelligence and compassion than The Don: “We build too many walls and not enough bridges.”
Let each of us build some bridges and tear down some walls this year.