"Tear down this wall!"

    "Tear down this wall!" the resounding words of President Reagan to President Gorbachev in 1982, Berlin, echoed in our heads when we saw the walls that separate Israel from Palestinian territories.

   Walls, ancient and modern, have been erected over the centuries to ward off enemies and as we have been told time and again, to create better neighbors. We have a false sense of security. Yes, we both grew up with walls. The walled city of Dubrovnik, home of Don Milo, is spectacular on the Adriatic Sea. In the Caribbean where I grew up, every home is surrounded by walls to protect us from intruders. However, on the Prairie lands where we both live and work, we have no walls, perhaps, fences to prevent cattle from running on the highways. Walls here are for the most part non-existent!

I recall Vincent Ibanez's story, "The Wall" in which he tells the tale of two Valencian families who hated each other so much that the physical wall separating them was built even higher. Their enmity affected the entire town. Members of both families waged war on each other. Then, one day a fire broke out in one house where the 80 year old bed-ridden father lived. His sons were not at home. The sons of the other family realized he would die if they did not rescue him. So they rushed in and saved him. As a result of this courageous act, peace was restored between the two families. When the architect came to rebuild the burnt house; the grandchildren of the senior citizen did not allow him to begin without clearing the ground. First of all they had to do something more important - pull down the wall! In Ibanzez's story, it took a fire to open the eyes to a new way of reconciliation! Were it that simple for Israelis and Palestinians! I suppose the same goes for all countries that build up security walls!

St. John-Paul II at a World Youth Convention in Denver cried out: "How many tears! How much blood has been shed because of violence, the fruit of hatred and egoism!" How do we get rid of "dividing walls of hostility?" (Ephesians 2,15). 

   In the meanwhile, walls continue to be built.  

   +Don Ronaldo and +Don Milo on the Prairie lands with fences.                                                                                         reflection #236.