What would you do?

In response to Michael Sorkin’s Up Against the Wall.

What would you do if faced with a wall? Would your heart bit just a little faster? Would you climb over it? Dig a tunnel underneath it? Try and push it over? Would you kick and scream? Try and go around it? Would you hurl sticks and stones? Would you wonder why it was there? Would you wonder who built it? Would you feel safe from whatever is on the other side? Would you feel defeated? Would you try and find out who was on the other side? Would you put a message in a bottle? Would you pretend it wasn’t there? Paint over it? Would you protest against its validity? Would you draw a picture, take a photo or write a song about it? Would you attempt to rationalise its existence? Would you search relentlessly for a hole in the wall, a crack or a weakness, just for a chance to see? Would you tell a friend about it? Would you contact the government? Would you protest? Would you be confused? Would you shed tears? Would you feel powerful? Or powerless? Would you deify it? Would you put a mirror to the wall? Would you go home and build your own? Would you put it on a t-shirt or a coffee cup? Would you write a letter to the editor or start a blog? Would you turn your back on the wall and walk away? Would you be vigilant? Would you keep it for future generations so that they can understand? Would you seek shelter beside it? Would you give it a name? Would you, if you could, make it higher and stronger? Would you protect it? Would you use it as an excuse? Would you sit and wait patiently? Would you condemn the wall in front of your friends and colleagues but secretly be grateful for it? Would you pray at the wall? Would you just try and get on with your life? Would you demand that they just do something? Would you leave it for someone else to deal with?

What if you built it?

 

Ashley Mackey

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