The Wall
— thoughts by Rev Russ Menk February 2019
What if you are a free thinker guided by reason—and you live life in a learning mode?
What if you don’t want to live in a world
where certainty prevents learning,
where labels cause destructive tribalism,
where “they” are a threat to “us”,
where a closed mind locks out reason,
where compassion is seen as weak, or
where you are judged as either a winner or loser?
Where walls are built with bricks of fear without reason?
What if you want no part of that world?
Wouldn’t you want to change it?
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The political chaos over the border wall is a metaphor. A manifestation of the deep cultural disease growing untreated in our society. Government dysfunction and shutdowns are symptoms. Children separated from parents is a consequence. Pulling out of international agreements is a spin-off. Lack of disclosure of tax returns is a sequel. Business dealings with a foreign government is an indication. Evading campaign finance laws is a clue. Rising neo-Nazism is evidence. Tax relief for the wealthy is a clue. Climate change deniers are tip-offs. The border wall is a symbolic metaphor of our disease. Our disease is factions. Factions are created by fear. Factions build walls.

Walls divide. Walls separate. Walls contain what is mine from what is yours. Walls keep things in—or keep things out. Robert Frost questioned his neighbor’s litany of “Good fences make good neighbors” in his poem “Mending Walls.” Frost’s first line in that poem is “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” and that’s how I feel—walls have nothing to do with love.

In our world, we are maneuvered into factions that divide us and amplify our differences. We are asked to define our self and our beliefs (political, religious, gender, age, education, sexuality) into an “either/or” side of a divisive wall. This applies to our thoughts on social issues like abortion, immigration, prison sentences, gun legislation, DACA, welfare, religion, climate change, gerrymandering, homelessness, gangs, drugs, big business, and most other aspects of living in a community.

But we live in community—all of us do—and this makes us exist alongside of people who do not agree on every nuance and social issue. We respond to those differences with democracy—where the “majority” decides on issues. But when we stop acknowledging that our differences exist—and when we stop civil engagement about our differences—and when we achieve 51% and “force” people to comply with our “majority,” then our disease of factions becomes an epidemic. Our disease pushes the majority back and forth by a swing of a few percentage points—thus ensuring a terminal illness of a population defined by differences. A democracy only works when the minority retains their rights.

At this phase of our disease, we talk about walls. A wall of steel, concrete, wire, suspicion, judgment, or stereotype is easily built. Its construction is funded and fueled by fear. Fear is the powerful engine and can raise a wall rapidly. Fear not only builds the wall, but sustains it, strengthens frays, and repairs cracks. This is what all propagandists know—and the tactics are universally effective. A wall is easy to build because it is made of bricks of fear.

Tearing down walls takes more effort than building. To tear down a wall means that you must be willing to embrace vulnerability—the risk of facing and dealing with what your fears tell you is on the other side. When a wall comes down, you can see more clearly—but only if you look. Only if you look through the fear that is trying to blind you. When a wall comes down, it means that we must face each other on an equal field—and that can be scary.

I have a piece of the Berlin wall in my curio cabinet. A friend who was there when the wall came down brought it to me. Reagan said “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall” in 1987—and it came down ending decades of separation. The Berlin wall separated two factions fed by fear, but when the wall came down—unification began.

Ken McLeod (Buddhist teacher/author) says that there’s a wall that separates me from reality. I believe that, and I work on dismantling my wall daily with meditation, spiritual practices, and striving to be fully present. It is difficult to dismantle a wall, because I must take down one brick at a time—and a brick made of fear is difficult to throw away.

I’ve built and lived within walls. Raised in the pre-Civil Rights South, I lived on one side of the racism wall. I used to believe that guns were necessary to protect people. I’ve torn down most of those walls. I lock my house at night—and that’s a wall to the fears I carry. I guard my pass words, SSN, PIN, and credit cards with various walls. Yes—some walls are necessary to protect myself and my family. But I cannot put the same rationalization on walls that separate us from each other. I cannot accept walls built on unfounded fears.

The walls I built and lived within did not help me. My walls did not protect me—on the contrary—my walls kept me a prisoner. When I started dismantling the walls around me, I became more vulnerable—but an amazing counter-intuitive thing happened: I lost my fear. I realized that my walls were keeping me from seeing reality—and reality is amazingly beautiful. Some parts sparkle and some parts hurt—but the entirety of reality is beautiful.

Our country’s disease of factions builds walls between us. Our fear of each other creates walls that prevent dialogue, interchange, sharing, and kills compassion because “they are idiots and I will not have anything to do with them.” Neither faction is right. Neither faction is wrong. We are all guilty of spreading our disease because we have been assigned to a faction. With our walls, we are at Stage 4 of our disease.

What can be done? Here’s my thoughts:
* Stop building walls (actual or metaphorical)
* Heal thyself. Take inventory of your fears and acknowledge the walls you’ve built
* Begin to disassemble your walls. Showing vulnerability is scary but rewarding.
* Tear down your walls working in a community based on compassion and love. I favor churches/religious institutions. This is difficult work not easily done alone.
* Look for and foster “unlikely alliances” with those you consider “others” or “them.” Only through these relationships will we transform the world. More Like-minded people in factions will not change anything. Through the intersections of divergent/unlikely groups comes creativity—and we need innovation for change.
* Never give up, never give in, and never give away your free will to make decisions guided by reason. Do not identify yourself as in a faction. Do not identify anyone else as in a faction.

David Brooks in 2011 wrote “We have a prevailing view in our society—not only in the policy world, but in many spheres—that we are divided creatures….” We are not. While we are complex creatures, we are social, empathetic, and interdependent. If we recognize our commonality—a cure for our disease can begin. Let’s heal together. I want to be in a world like that……………..yours in shared ministry…………Russ