Walls

Brickie was born and raised in Stoney Creek. He comes from a long line of bricklayers. There was no doubt that he would be part of the family business, Masons Unlimited. So from a young age he was nurtured in the world of walls. He worked as an apprentice for his father, a master craftsman. He was soon a journeyman and eventually a master craftsman himself. Built like a brick from all the physical activity he can work wonders on the wall. He is happily married to Mortar. Their relationship goes back to their school days. The bond between them is cemented in time.

He has come to the conclusion that walls are not funny.

If you hit them it hurts like hell and you just cannot finish the task at hand.

Do not even think of banging your head against one.

Mostly they are thick with bricks and they may have holes in them.

Their retention is good but they can be obstinate and unforgiving like a stonewall.

They can disguise themselves behind ivy; they have ears, and eyes and can “talk” by writing on a friend’s wall. Literally conversing with a wall is not advisable as passers-by may call the asylum. There is one exception to this that we will explore.

They are divisive in nature. Sea walls in Holland and levies in New Orleans are examples of good division. The others fail.

Brickie thinks of other walls that have influenced generations of people. Walls providing shelter, decorative church walls and security walls are not really what Brickie was thinking of other than all the time, materials and labour it took to construct these walls. Mind-boggling!!! His thoughts take him to other walls real or imaginary which have played a part in our history.

In Verona Casa di Giulietta is a house where Romeo and Juliet hung out. Known as Juliet’s wall many people write their names and their beloved ones on the entrance to the house believing that it will make their love everlasting. Love letters are traditionally placed on the wall, like writing on the wall.

During his misspent youth Brickie came across the rock band Pink Floyd. He would listen to them on his iPhone while working. “The Wall” is an album that explores themes of abandonment and personal isolation that are represented by a metaphorical wall. All of the traumas are the “bricks” in the wall. There was one track in particular that he listened to when he started working as an apprentice. These lyrics in particular had a strong influence on Brickie’s life philosophies “I have seen the writing on the wall”. Dismissing it as “all in all its just another brick in the wall” he puts in perspective.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington is known as “The Wall”. It honours members of the U.S military who fought in the Vietnam War, those that died or were missing in action. Standing in front of the wall visitors can see their reflection.On top of the names symbolically bring the past and present together. There is a ritual where visitors to the wall take a piece of paper, place it over a name on the wall and rub a pencil over it as a memento of their loved ones. This is called rubbing.

Perhaps one of the oldest walls he recalls is a retaining wall. It’s the western segment of walls surrounding what is called the “Temple Mount” the holiest site in Judaism. It was gradually extended to accommodate an even larger temple compound on top. When the Romans invaded and occupied Jerusalem in AD 70 they destroyed the temple. This loss led to it being described as “The Wailing Wall” as pilgrims have gathered there ever since to lament the loss of their temple and offer prayers. Many prayer notes are stuck into the crevasses of the wall. In a sense this is “writing on the wall”.

His thoughts jump forward in time to another real wall located in Berlin. After the war Berlin was divided into four occupation zones for the USA, UK, France and the Soviet Union. It divided the East from West. The German Democratic Republic constructed it in 1961 in response to the massive emigration and defection of East Germans into the so-called “fascist” West. It is a concrete wall 140 kilometers long. To the West it was a wall of shame, symbolic of the Iron Curtain. It did not deter people from climbing the wall to escape its confines, many of whom were shot and killed.

In 1955, Rosa Parks hit a wall of law. Her refusal to listen to the bus driver’s instruction to give up her seat in the coloured section of the bus to a white passenger resulted in her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws. It became the watershed of the civil rights movement in the United States. This was followed by Martin Luther’s “I have a dream” and “all men are created equal” speech in 1963 a hundred years after Abe Lincoln uttered those words in his famous Gettysburg speech in 1863 “ …dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. It has never been easy to achieve.

Another post war drama was unfolding in South Africa. A wall of legislation adopted by the ruling Nationalist Party effectively segregated Blacks and Whites in that country. Residential areas were segregated and the mass removal of blacks from their homes into segregated neighbourhoods is unprecedented in modern history. Blacks were deprived of their citizenship, education, and health care and were restricted from amenities open to the public. Park benches, beaches and busses were out of bounds.

Blacks in South Africa had a similar response as Rosa’s and were “tired of giving in”. They were “forced to the wall“ and now with their “backs to the wall” blacks began to demonstrate their repugnance of these laws. It began with a quiet sitting on benches “for whites only”. It escalated when some blacks arrived at a police station in Sharpsville inviting arrest for not carrying their passbooks. Things went horribly wrong when the police began shooting at the gathering crowds. The response to this was the militant actions of the African National Congress (ANC) when Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962 for trying to overthrow the state.

Other members of the ANC went into exile and continued their efforts to orchestrate change. Influencing the international community brought boycotts against South Africa effectively isolating it from participating in sport, cultural and other events. Later came sanctions imposed by trading partners and divestment of interests in South Africa. Internal struggles continued and South Africa became a police state with the imposition of detention without trial. In the paranoia many blacks and some whites became victims of police brutality.

Imposing social stratifications based on status or caste is another invisible wall dividing people. The British Empire may be the culprit here with it’s influence felt through the commonwealth. Colonial administration segregated Indians by caste giving senior administrative jobs mostly to educated people. In Britain itself there is a stratification based on education wealth and heredity. The Upper, Middle and Lower levels placed an invisible wall between sections of society. As an illustration of this the game of rugby changed dramatically in 1895. The working classes were compensated for missing work to practice and play rugby and viewed as professionals. The Upper class players could not live with this. The resulting split based on these economic factors meant that two different codes could not co-exist. They went their separate ways. The “League” vs. the “Union” have very different playing rules and supporters.

Another conflict erupted in Northern Ireland in 1969 between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. The so called Peace Walls were built to limit violence between the Catholics, who regarded themselves as Nationalists and Irish, and the Protestants who regarded themselves as Unionists and British. Interesting that the police had the ability to detain people without trial. We’ve heard that before!

In January 2019 the issue of Britain extricating itself from the European Union hit the proverbial wall. “Brexit hits the wall” shout the papers headline in reference to Trump’s border wall between the USA and Mexico which May happen, or not.

Brickie is taking his midday break. This was a day of recollection it seemed. Thoughts of subsidies, embargos, trade restrictions and tariffs floated through his mind. As president of the Bricklayers Association he went to the wall when the government introduced these instruments to protect industries. Free markets were not so free any more. He was awarded a golden trowel in appreciation of his efforts.

The afternoon sped by and satisfied with the height he had reached the wall could wait another day. He was cleaning up when his gang suggested they all go the hole in the wall for a beverage or two. Joining them meant he could be the proverbial fly on the wall assessing the progress of his apprentices besides which the banter may provide clues as to how the competition was faring. He knows that walls have ears.

He was fast asleep when the nightmare took hold. So many walls! Was there an end to all of this? All these walls had similar structures. They were built on inequitable foundations. They could not last the test of time. They all came tumbling down. He woke, sat up, sweating. His life’s work turned to rubble. Sensing his distress Mortar, ever the support structure calms him down and she makes some hot chocolate for them. But the dream lingers. The 1960’s proved to be tumultuous years giving birth to these walls of contention. It has taken a long time to get over them and still problems persist.

Sixteen months before the Berlin wall came down Bruce Springsteen performed a concert in East Berlin. He declared he was not there for any government but rather in the hope that “all the barriers will be torn down”. Later, Ronald Regan challenged Gorbachov to” tear down this wall”. It happened.

Amidst whispers of another cold war the Berlin Wall and the Wailing Wall will meet in 2015. Organised by the Entrepreneurs Organisation it will be an opportunity to for them to explore different cultures and the cities as well.

In the USA the Civil Rights Act was promulgated in 1964. There have been strides improving education, poverty has declined but a gap in wealth remains and unemployment is a problem.

After 46 or so years Apartheid laws were struck down paving the way to freedom for blacks in South Africa. Nelson Mandela was instrumental in turning the dream into reality. Twenty years on other walls have grown to plague the population.

In Ireland it was only in 2013 when consensus was reached to dismantle the Peace Walls. Still, there are threats of violence.

Brickie settles down again content in the thought that dividing walls cannot stop people escaping from their confinement. There will be more. They will tumble too.