Beyond the Walls

Walls have always been a source of interest and suspicion to me, both physical and psychological, both material and spiritual. The two man made structures which can be seen from outer space are The Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramid on the Plateau at Giza. Having visited most of the great “wonders of the world” I have made it my ambition to study them. The Great Wall of China, built by the Chinese to keep out the Mongols, extends for over 5,500 miles over mountains which are some of the most hazardous areas of the world. I have been on the wall twice. The wall is wide enough for 4 men on horseback to ride down it. A guard post is located at every high place on the wall. It took millions of soldiers and coolies working night and day over 2000 years to build it. Thousands died during the construction. It was built during the period of 476 BC - 221 BC to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Remember all this work, all this was done without any tools, to keep out invading Mongolian armies and within a few months of it's completion, the wall was breached because the guards were bribed.

The awesome walls of ancient Babylon described both in the Bible and by Herodotus, the ancient historian, were 10 – 50 miles long, probably 300 feet high and wide enough that their were chariot races on top of the wall. Another wonder of the world, this ancient city of Nebuchadnezzar which the recently deposed Saddam Hussein tried to emulate, by restoring the palace and coliseum can be viewed today. Little has been said about the restored city in news reports of the Iraq war.

When Joshua led the children of Israel across the Jordan river, their first military challenge was the walled fortress city of Jericho. Shorty after, they encountered the walled city of Adid. One of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited is the walled city of Dubrovnik, on the coast of Yugoslavia.

It is human nature to build walls and to use walls as security. With the rise in crime and other tensions in America, more and more of the elitists are living behind walls and gated communities. I note that even college campuses are behind walls.

In visiting American embassies around the world, I always found that embassies were behind walls. You entered the embassy grounds and immediately a gate would close behind you with marine guards guarding the embassy which anywhere in the world, is considered American soil. At a reception in one embassy, upon meeting the ambassador, a former military general, I asked questions about the country which he was sent to represent. He stayed behind his walls. He knew nothing about the African villages in the country to which he was appointed. At the time, there were news reports of famine throughout his country. I was telling him about visiting so many villages (The life of any village revolves around the village market.) and that I found a super abundance of food in the markets. He seemed to know nothing about the situation. The head of the Peace Corp was at the reception. He was an academic sophisticate; and I presented the same question to him. In Ethiopia, the Sudan and other African nations, there was supposed famine throughout. But even today, 25 years later, it is reported that 6.5 millions Ethiopians are on the verge of starvation and 8 million in the area of Darfur in the Sudan area. We find the same situation in Guinea and Niger.

I am convinced that behind the walls of government and religious groups (Catholic church) in America and elsewhere, there is a contrived empathy, for the dark continent and many other areas used primarily for the raising of funds, which are paid as big salaries, mostly here, some abroad. Very little of the contributions reach the needy. It is the same old story, the greedy, using the needy, as a vehicle for their own benefit. Around the same time I was visiting in some of these embassies which knew little about African problems, I had dinner one evening with the top UN official for Africa. He had invited me and the president of the Medical School at Dusseldorf, Germany to dine with him in Kenya. I put to him the question, “How much of the largess from do-gooder groups and even governments ever reaches the average native in Africa who supposedly needs help?” He said, “By the time I jump the WALLS of interference from government authorities who want to be bribed and obeyed simply because it is their right to do so, very little help is given. Most of the bureaucrats in charge are relatives and friends of the head of the country. I must first go to the airport duty free store, load up with gifts for them before they will even talk with me. Then they want a cut and control of the funds. By the time anything reaches the people who need it, it is less than 1 %. The dollar you give in the US either at a church or club, your tax dollar, etc. by the time it is diced and spiced by the greedy, on the way to the needy at home and abroad, one penny will eventually reach the needy.”

Arriving at Sierra Leone, Freetown, having gone through the aggravation of the Queen's Canadian minister trying to confiscate the car awaiting for me, who supposedly was there to witness the starvation of the African people, I encountered a large delegation of news people at the Freetown hotel, spending and spreeing and worrying about the starving millions, but not willing to leave the confines behind the WALLS of the swimming pool. Talk is cheap behind the security of the glassed wall of the television station or the pulpit chancel of the walled church. But getting out into the grim and gritty of starvation or even poverty is another.

Congress, government agencies have all built their walls which only the well-paid lobbyists can penetrate. For instance, there is a pharmaceutical lobbyist for every member of congress. Washington's, Raleigh's, and Wilmington's most expensive restaurants depend on the patronage of politicians and bureaucrats. I live in downtown Wilmington, NC surrounded by many elitist, upper crust restaurants. I have never eaten at one of them. I have asked employees “who eats in those places?” I always get the same answer, politicians and bureaucrats. This is where your tax dollars are being expended, for your benefit and because of their love for mankind.

There are two sources of accountability in our constitutional form of government, redress at the courts, and freedom of speech. You have freedom of speech with your local newspaper IF they agree with what you have to say. It will not surprise you to find that all liberal newspapers in NC will not print any letter to the editor from me. It will not surprise you to find that liberal radio talk shows do not want to hear from me. National liberal talk shows, both radio and television will cut off a conservative before he gets started. The walls of separation involving freedom of expression have been built higher and stronger than ever. With Mr. Obama's “enemies list” and his reportedly authoritarian, totalitarian dictum to have all enemies reported to the White House, the wall of reluctance by many to disagree, will certainly take shape.

On September 11^th, 1990, President George H. W. Bush, before congress, made his famous “Toward a New World Order” speech. More than ever before, the religion of globalism has taken over. The walls of patriotism along with a secure border at the north and south of the US, the security of the expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the vitality and of an almost independent economic system (We had the independence of knowing we could produce or manufacture anything.) has been disparaged to open borders. Our industry has moved abroad. What left of our economy in manufacturing, banking, insurance, even military vitality and superiority, has been compromised and demoralized. From the capital in Washington, to every state house, to every court house, to every church house, those inside, must forget their inner comforts and recognize the anxiety and the needs of those on the outside.

Always, the first to experience deprivation behind the walls of a walled city or fortress, were those on the inside beyond the walls.