Something about a wall

Christian Century, May 15, 2007

SOMETHING ABOUT A WALL: The Berlin Wall came down in 1989, but the building of walls continues walls that cannot stop armies but do stem the flow of people. The United States is building a wall on its border with Mexico to restrict immigration from the south; the Israelis are creating a "security barrier" to keep out suicide bombers; India is walling off Kashmir and Bangladesh; the Saudis have announced two walls, one to keep the conflict in Iraq from overflowing into their country; China wants to get back into the act of building walls to seal off North Korea; Russia is thinking about walling off Chechnya; and the oil-rich United Arab Emirates has decided to put up a barrier along its border with dirt-poor Oman, reports Mark Ehrman.

An ancient Mongolian proverb says: "Two men in friendship are stronger than walls of stone" (Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring).