Something There Is That Really Loves A Wall
ALL OVER THE WORLD, In Robert Frost’s poem, Mending Wall, he asserts, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” and tells the tale of fixing a stone barrier one spring with his “neighbour,? and their differing philosophies about walls.
Frost obviously thinks most walls are unnecessary things, except for keeping animals in one place, the man nextdoor simply repeats his father’s adage, “Good fences make good neighbours.” Certainly most walls and fences ultimately fall down or into disrepair, but let’s face it, most people really love ‘em.
President Bush will soon sign into law, a bill, which calls for an additional 700 miles of fencing between the U.S. and Mexico. China’s construction of a massive barbed wire and concrete fence along its border with North Korea has quickened since its inception a few years ago. Israel is now separated from the Palestinian West Bank by elaborate fencing.
I wonder how long any of them will last in the big sweep of history.
Will they continue to mark a line of distinction between two peoples, let alone remain intact? Will they be global landmarks like China’s Great Wall, which took centuries to build and needs regular maintenance? Will they favor Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain, not separating anyone, and crumbling both ends toward the middle?
Or will they be Berlin Walls, standing as long as the iron grip of force which built them survives to keep them standing, but not much longer.
Before building, Frost wanted to know “What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give ‘offence.’? In these times, it hardly seems likely a wall or fence will effectively hinder an aggressor from crossing a line; certainly won’t protect against a “missile invasion.?
I sure wish Frost’s “Mending Wall? companion is right, and “Good fences (do) make good neighbours,? but I’m skeptical. It isn’t the fence that separates the folks nextdoor and me that makes us good neighbors – it’s the gate we put in that brings us together.
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