Walls

Walls are not just physical structures, but also represent mindsets, preservations of what seems to have worked in the past and a telling inability to effectively embrace and utilise the best of changes.

Walls made of stone, metal or earth can only last as long as the materials offered by Nature and human handiwork. Nature is forever transforming. Humankind has progressed because of the evolving brain of Homo Sapiens to make the most of volatility, observe what is more stable and reliable and adapt better than others. Other related species have found limitations without embracing this significant ability, despite having larger sizes, apparently better physical prowesss and a longer track record of survival.

So when particular human tribes or cultures revert strongly to the circle of bandwagons mentality, it can be a decidedly portent sign of negativity and decline. The actual act of erecting walls, in the broadest sense of the word, has historically been more of a disadvantage than a benefit. The society that builds walls perpetuates in its own limbo - it can be compared to someone who needs positive change but is encouraged and emboldened to be trapped in his own debilitating comfort zone of bad habits and incriminating behaviour.

Hadrian's Wall, the Great Wall of China, the Wall of Ston in Croatia, the Berlin Wall, the Great Wall of Babylon and fortifications serving as outposts in dangerous territory of deserts and plains jump out of our school textbooks. The primary justification of strategic defence provides a psychological rationale for the construction of walls and accompanying moats. Often such physical manifestations just delay the arrival of the inevitable.

Is the real and effective enemy the barbarian waiting at the gate? Maybe the actual enemy is an inability to consider the new and seemingly unacceptable, to make use of the best offered by a seeming threat and to resolve internal dismay by seizing on an opportunity to learn?

We know that walls can be breached anyway in unexpected places. The Achilles heel of using a wall as a socio-political tool has been demonstrated by a top military commander willingly opening the gates to invaders in dynastic China. 

The man made wall is best seen as a temporary and interim measure to use when the builder is disorganised and refuses to adopt other more reliable methods. Walls of a cultural nature are echoed by strict interpretations of often a religious nature, the deeming of uniqueness behind the walls and strong restrictions in allowing foreigners coming in. 

The human penchant for building walls can also be seen in cyberspace, exercising extreme conservatism and building defences against inter continental missiles. Military strategy in the future must encompass a variety of holistic fronts and not just rely on a physical structure.

The greater ease of mobility, in travel, exchange of goods, virtual transactions and social engagement, implies that any one still believing in the usefulness of erecting walls, has a complex job ahead.