Our Walls
Our Walls
They grow taller the deeper you fall. They become
thicker the farther you run. They become longer the
more you deny their existence. They are the walls. We
all have walls. Some are always standing, some allow
visitors. Walls always appear at some point and time.
Walls divide.... walls defy.... walls deny.... walls deprive.We all construct walls-- mental steel or brick-- to
defend our gentle, shriveling little worlds. The alcoholic
builds a wall, each drink a brick. His wall keeps
out truth and pain, keeps away hate and hurt. His wall,
numb to reality. His wall, in the end, falls hard and
shatters. His wall is the lead domino to a series of
other walls, built to safeguard those around him, to
save their fragile castles.The loner, social nomad, his wall built in sacrifice
and shame. Told he was different from the others, less
normal, less conforming, he escaped physical retribution
by retreating to literature, his bricks made from Blake,
Kerouac, Ginsberg and Emerson. His wall encapsulates a
world far from television beauty and theme, far from video
love and tabloid truth. His world grows between
appreciative toes, warms skin of awe, and is breathed in
by lungs of worship. Eyes constantly fed healthy cuisine
to nourish ever-hungry mind, which is left a lingering
taste, one used to revel and rejoice every meal-word.
His wall is open-- only to those who come to terms
with the heart and soul, who recognize true beauty: love
and imagination.The bigot, the racist, the prejudiced.... what are
their walls made of ? Their walls are built of the same
ingredients all the other walls of hate are made from:
lies and ignorance. Facts and comprehension get through
these walls as well as a snowball thrown at a skyscraper.
Some are raised swathed in these walls, never knowing
they contain a structual flaw. These people never get a
chance to be their own architects-- the plans have already
been drawn, blueprints of resentment and violence.
The second they're born, they are condemned.Politicians build their walls from trust and faith,
which they later turn into cold, ruthless betrayal. All
the politicians' walls come with graffiti, all spelled
out in special code. Too few have learned to translate
the script. Gates, once open to the public like waiting
arms, close and lock, only penetrable with certain keys
or combinations. The commoner can only look on with wonder
and confusion: " What goes on behind those walls ?
Why can't I see what you're doing ? I gave you permission
to enter through that gate, gave you my blessing,
my vote.... What will become of ME ?" Politician walls
also intersect other walls, without a hint of their presence,
extracting various bricks to make their wall more
ominous, massive, stronger. Sometimes their walls crush
other walls, innocent walls, walls with no ulterior
motive or sinister design. Their walls also inspire other
walls to be built, mostly out of fear and loathing. Political
walls form around you as you read this. Brick
by brick. Day by day. Election by election. Each one
of these walls may look different on the outside.... inside
they all look the dark.Walls of the dreamer, the thinker, the free-spirit:
his or her walls are not composed of solid materials, because
the walls are forever moving, ever-changing, not
erected of biased manifestations. These walls cannot exist,
for the presence of walls ceases the existance of
this world. The dream, the thought, the freedom ends
when someone obstructs it, when someone denies them their
space. Walls are an anathema to the three. Fell any or
all three, and so will end humanity. To wall them is to
wall up hope. Even within our own personal walls lies one
or all of the three. These are the ones whom keep us
alive, whom keep us striving and searching for the crumbling
of our walls.Another set of walls oppose the hope triumvirate,
trying to crush them to maintain control and order.
These are formalist walls. These walls wish to conform
and lock in what they think is the only way to live.
Free thought is a sin; dreaming is akin to masturbation;
individuality is manslaughter in the first degree. The
way to exist is to trudge around in a dullard state,
where labor is reflex, guestioning is forgotten, and happiness
and sadness are reciprocal. These walls are built
by big business, religion, and government; their ingredients
are mass-visual hypnosis and thirty-second brainwashing
technigues. The strength of these walls relies on
two things: self-deprecation and frivolousness-- the belittling
of yourself and of everything around you. They
pray on people's need of acceptance and belonging. As
long as they convince you that what they're tempting you
with is the key to security and love, these walls will
continue to grow higher and wider. These walls are susceptible
to a rare piece of wrecking equiptment: common sense.
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