In the high country of a far away land there once stood a massive
wall, blocking the pass between two mountains. Just below the wall
was a path leading around the mountains--a path made possible by
a bridge connecting it across a deep chasm directly in front of
the wall.
Now, the wall and the bridge were always bickering. One day when an
old peddler leading an even older mule with a load of shabby wares
crossed the bridge on the way to a distant fair, the wall said to
the bridge, "You know, the trouble with you is that you have
absolutely no discretion. You let just anyone walk over you. In
fact, you're the slut of architectural forms, granting promiscuous
entry to all and sundry."
"Is the greenness I see all over you moss or envy?" replied the
bridge. "I enable people to fulfill their dreams; I provide
opportunity for a better life. You're just an obstructionist, but
I'm a facilitator--a metaphor for access, for hope, for possibility."
On another day a young maiden fleeing evil men ran across the rocks
until she reached the wall where she could go no farther. She cried
out and pounded her fists against the wall in despair until the men
caught up with her and carried her away. The bridge then said to
the wall in disgust, "You once accused me of having no discretion,
but you are worse, for you are completely heartless. You're so cold
and rigid that you cruelly prevent even the distressed and needy
from passing by. Maybe that's why walls are known everywhere as
symbols of 'No!' while we bridges are known as symbols of 'Yes!'"
"You, my loose and easy friend," said the wall, "indeed let the
distressed pass, but you also let the criminals pass. I, on the
other hand, provide the needed security to keep the land behind me
safe from harm. I am a protector, and I defend this pass and the
country well."
This dialogue continued for many years until one morning when
suddenly the earth shook with great violence. So strong was the
tremor that both the wall and the bridge were reduced to rubble at
the bottom of the chasm. Not many months later men came to repair
the damage. In the process of reconstruction, however, the stones
that were once part of the bridge were used to rebuild the wall
and the stones that were once part of the wall were used to rebuild
the bridge.
"Now I'll show you what a wall should really be like," said the new
wall. "It shouldn't be cold and rejecting to everybody." And so at
first, the new wall let many people climb up over it.
"And I'll show you what a bridge should do," said the new bridge.
"It shouldn't let just anybody across." And so at first, the new
bridge provided a difficult passage, causing many travelers to trip
on the surface and a few even to fall over the edge.
But as spring and summer, harvest and winter came and went again and
again, the rocks on the new wall grew more and more slippery and the
little projections gradually broke away, so that climbing over or
even getting a foothold became very difficult. And in the same
passage of time, the rough spots on the new bridge wore down and the
crevices filled up, so that passage across became much easier.
"You see," said the new bridge to the new wall, "you've learned
something about being a wall."
"Well," the new wall replied, "I've known all along that I must
guard the pass and fortify the defenses of the country. And of
course I know it's my job to keep out all those who don't belong.
But I see you've finally discovered how to be a bridge."
"You can say what you like," answered the new bridge. "But I've
always understood that I provide a critical link in the path
around the mountains, and that my purpose is to help travelers
across the gorge."
As the years collected, as years do, the new bridge and the new wall
began to think less and less about what they had once been and more
and more about the task they currently had to do, until eventually
it became impossible for anyone to tell that the new wall had once
been a bridge or that the new bridge had once been a wall.
"How indiscriminate and common you are," the new wall would often
tell the new bridge.
"And how inflexible and repressive you are," the new bridge
would reply.