The Wall

A young man is confronted by a discovery concerning his "utopian" society and must lead others in a fight for freedom, equality, care, kindness and morals.

There has been times in our history, where men and women have had to stand up in the face of fear for what is fair, what is equal, and just. Today I stand, upon the rubble of this wall, with our flag in my hand, as one of those individuals. Behind me, the sound of the brave men and women that fought along side me, with no fear of death or pain. With the passion of freedom burning in their eyes, the courage of heroes in their hearts, and now, with triumph upon their shoulders, they sing their of songs of what was once hope but know more! Today it is true! The sound of thunder growls deeply above us, but even in all of its wonder, volume and power, theres no way it could teardown the energy shared among us today, and as I throw my fist toward the sky, and taste the triumph upon the sweet air, the pure and new air, I feel a small drop of water land upon my cheek, just like it did, the day of my greatest disillusionment, which grew into a dream, and this dream I was determined to bring to life.

I thought I lived in a world that was kind and fair. Everyone I knew had everything that they could ever dream of! A big house, fast cars, money, friends, abundant food, clean water, government and safety… but those last two never existed. We weren't safe, we were ignorant. We didn’t have government, we had cheaters, bullies and killers…

Now, of course we didn’t know this. We were taught from a young age that the titanic walls surrounding our cities were to protect us from the terrors of the old world. Our teachers showed images of death, of flatten forests, foul gases emerging from the crust of our earth and brutes, with teeth like daggers and skin like sand paper. They would tear us to pieces if we set foot beyond the walls. We heard gunshots now and then, and we all assumed a brute got to close to our walls and our brave soldiers were putting their lives on the line for us. 

We were scared into ignorance from the day we were born. 

When I was about 18 years old, I began training as a soldier that would one day protect our city and I decided I wanted to see the soldiers on duty. I wanted to see them out upon the “safety” of our wall. I snuck out of our home, past some men in uniform standing vigil in the misty street lit with a bright orange from the street lamps, and towards the wall. It wasn’t hard to find, even in the dark you could feel its superior power tower above you. I cautiously climbed onto the roof of a nearby house until I was standing, barely balancing, on top of the chimney. I took my pack from my back and removed my homemade grappling rope.

After a few big throws, my rope caught on something at the top of the wall, and after giving a few good tugs I took my first step towards the world upon the wall. As I got higher, the wind increased, swaying me from left to right causing me to grip intently to fraying rope. I was getting cold and the strain in my arms was now becoming pain almost impossible to ignore. My trust in the worn rope was fading as I could felt it began to strain and slip. I looked up and to my dismay I was still at least 20 metres from the top. I sat motionless for a moment to contemplate my options. I heard a low rumble of thunder discourage me from above, and with a sense of defeat let out a sigh and began to descend towards the safety of the earth below me. As a slowly lowered myself, I took one last look towards the top of the wall. As I was about to continue my descent I felt a rain drop land upon my cheek, than another and another. I held my self stationary once again, then changed my mind. I was gonna get to the top of that wall. I continued with sheer determination and a new trust within my grapple and one step at a time climbed through the cold the pain and the fear. As the rain became heavier I became more determined, nothing was going to push me back now nothing was going to stop me.

Suddenly, my foot stepped onto nothing, and I collapsed on top of the wall. Lying in the rain, I breathed deeply and sighed with relief. I stood up on top of the great wall and looked up towards the heavens and allowed the rain to wash over me. I had won and the thunder had lost. I concluded my moment of glory with a shout to victory and unzipped my bag. I pulled out my binoculars and carefully lay down by the edge of the wall. I was keen to see some brutes and some  of best and most heroic soldiers protect our cities, but that night was the very definition of disillusionment . 

As my eyes adjusted to the binoculars, I saw something that would change my life forever. There was a human boy, not much younger than me. All he was wearing were thin dirty pants, no top, shoes or hat. His back was covered in scars and bruisers. He was knelling over someone, a girl, I could see her face. Covered in dirt, mud and blood, but she was beautiful. I could not see her eyes, they were closed, and I now know that they would never open again. The young man stood up in the rain. He turned so I could see his face. I had never seen a person in such a state. Suddenly, a guard came into the young mans range. “Oh thank god!” I thought with relief. “He’ll be able to help the poor boy!” As I finished that last thought, the boy spat into the soldiers face and the soldier struck him to the ground with an attitude of disdain. Another guard joined the first, he was carrying a torch which lit up the surrounding area. There were people, working around what looked like an old furnace, and I could quite obviously see them shivering. They seemed to be completely oblivious to what was happening, none of them dared to turn their head.

The boy stood up again after recovering from his blow. He looked the guard straight in the eye and stood tall. The guard lifted his gun towards the boy and said something that looked like an order. The boy refused, and with his final breath held himself strong and tall, like a human should be. Than he was gone. When I dared look upon the scene once more, his body was lying motionless  beside the beautiful girl which he'd loved in now a life gone by.

For a full year after that night, I was confronted and confused. I became scared of our soldiers and almost immediately quit my training. I visited the wall more often and through my dismay and arrogance discovered that our “government” was exploiting these people. Our happiness was based upon the foundation of suffering. Our society had no morals and no freedom. 

So I made a decision. I was going to live in a just, fair and equal world, or I was not going to live at all. I became a leader for the people, and we began to confront the government and fought. First verbally using lawyers and reason, until we could stand no more, nothing was changing. I didn’t want to fight, to lose my friends, the people I loved. I was scared and almost gave up, until the soldiers started to become hostile in our cities. 

My friend Dusty was beaten in the street by a group of soldiers who recognised him as a fighter. Just before he died there on the streets he said to me “Nothing ever worth having comes easy. You gotta fight for those people” We had to fight, and fight we did. For years we fought within the walls of our once beautiful “new world”, here I watched brave men and women die for what was right, and even in that last moment of life, during their last breath, they had courage in their movement, they had no regret in their eyes and they died fighting for freedom, not even their freedom! They were happy and safe before all this! They choose to fight for others! For others rights and liberty! They fought strong, brave and tall and they died the same way. 

The first time I climbed the, it was hard. Each step brought more pain, rain and fatigue it almost seemed as if each step I took was one step back. The war has been the same. Each battle harder, each death more heart breaking. We felt as if we were destroying ourselves each step we took to free ourselves. Though, that’s been my motivation. I made it to the top of the wall that night and I knew we could make it to the end of this war if we continued to remembered who and what we were fighting for. If we did that, we could endure any challenge. I believe that now more then ever as I simply step over the remains of the wall. For the first time I look eye to eye with the people who lived for generations in pain and suffering, and I feel a tear travel from my eye and down my cheek washing the dust, mud and ash from my face as the rain does the same for those who stand in front of us. 

Today, we’ll live without a wall. 

Author's Note

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