Don't Fence Me In

Don't Fence Me In

    You might be too young but the above title was a hit song once.  It was a country song written by Cole Porter (from a poem he bought), lyrical and talking about a quest to remain free: Oh give me the land, lots of land under starry skies above, don't fence me in; Let me ride through the wide open country that I love, don't fence me in; Let me be by myself in the evening breeze, listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees, send me off forever but I ask you please, don't fence me in.  Those words could have been the theme in Berlin, the famous downing the "wall" now marking its 25th anniversary.

    Twenty five years.  Seems a long time ago, doesn't.  I  remember hearing the opening to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's..."It was twenty years ago today."  Even then, the time seemed incomprehensible.  Such numbers were reserved for class reunions after one had gotten well into adulthood.  To say that you went to your 20th reunion, or that you had been married for 25 years...well, that was something to make your eyes widen a bit, whether with envy or with compassion that you were still young and not as old as that person.  Back then, anniversaries of events such as the falling of the Berlin Wall* or the assassination of John Lennon, seemed as fresh and recent and perhaps close to the ten-year mark.  Longer periods were cast aside to history, both near history (JFK and RFK, Vietnam and Disneyland) and far history (WW II and Hiroshima)...past that and you were really into "history."

    But Berlin and it's wall reminds us of the new fences emerging across the globe.  What shockingly started in Israel, a new concrete wall with guard towers and perimeters of being shot and killed, was suddenly not so shocking, as walls and fences began to go up with regularity.  The U.S. began its long attempt to lay steel and other barriers across its borders, stopping not only human traffic but animal migration traffic as well (as did parks in Africa).  Now comes the rapid expansion of new walls in Morocco, Tunisia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, all meant to keep out a rising tide of refugees (Israel's walls now block out Palestine, Egypt, Syria and now Jordan, those all being in addition to the above and below ground walls that block out Gaza).  At one point in my game, Perceptions, I basically asked if you suddenly came up to a fence that seemed miles long in both directions, would you feel you were being kept in a field or being kept out of one?

(Graphic from Bloomberg Businessweek)

    In my area, fences around homes are common, often done for harboring dogs and privacy when having a party or doing a barbeque.  But in many parts of the U.S., this simply isn't a factor (other than for cattle and private agricultural land); neighbors are neighbors and an unwritten courtesy is that of "wide open spaces," spaces not marred by the occasional fence.  Crime, dogs, stray foxes are not a concern just yet.  And the need to isolate and protect oneself isn't a concern...just yet.  But such fears and concerns can arise quickly.  In an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, it was noted that: From Morocco to Saudi Arabia, boundaries are being fortified at a rate not seen since the months following the Sept. 11 attacks.  “The Middle East and North Africa is now the most walled region in the world,” said Said Saddiki, a professor of International Relations and International Law at Al-Ain University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi.  They range from “fences inside cities to anti-migrant walls and separation barriers to counter-insurgency” barricades, he said.  The builders have often been spurred by fear of Islamic State, after its conquests in Iraq and Syria and the group’s ability to inspire Muslim extremists elsewhere, or concern over failed or failing nations next door.  The jihadist group has built its own walls to fend off attackers and keep people from escaping, including around the Iraqi cities of Tal Afar and Mosul.  Syria’s embattled government has placed concrete shields around areas of regime support in Homs.  Kenya has just announced that it will build its own security wall along the Somali border.

    It is difficult to imagine 25 years passing so quickly; but perhaps it is even more difficult to imagine that within that same period, the joy and celebration that came with the tearing down of walls, would complete a 180-degree turn and have that joy and celebration occur with the going up of walls.  From election rants to building on fears, it would seem that the only guarantee in today's world would be the demand for more concrete, border walls to keep people out and prison walls to keep people in.  At times, it would seems that more and more of us are becoming the cattle and not the rancher...let us hope that we are not so passive as to simply turn our heads away from the fence and return to the "good life" of just laying the sun and grazing, unaware that before long, our fate will not be anywhere near as pleasant.

*There's still a chance for you to view (and until a few years ago, actually touch) an 8-foot chunk of the actual wall, as pictured below...well, at least for men.  As an example of just how far we've come (or perhaps haven't come), the wall is located at Main Street Station in Las Vegas...in the men's urinal.