The Wall Builders: A Parable about the Gender Debates

There once was a small kingdom where a good sort of folk dwelled. They believed in honest work, loving-kindness, and mutual sharing, and tried to get along peaceably with each other—though sometimes that was hard.

The center of the kingdom was encircled by a mighty wall. Behind the wall lived the king and his attendants. The kingdom dwellers had never passed through the wall; they could only imagine what lay beyond it. Many tales were told about what happened there, but no one knew which tales might be true. Even so, the kingdom dwellers could admire the beauty and glory of the wall, its long history and its rich tradition. And so they did.

The kingdom dwellers were busy building the kingdom. They did so by working hard, loving one another, and peacefully resolving their occasional quarrels. When old homes needed repair, they repaired them. When wells needed digging, they dug them. When clothes needed mending, they mended them. When the sick needed visiting, they visited them. They grew sweet fruits in abundance and fat vegetables from rich soil. From time to time, they paused from their kingdom-building to repair the wall by refreshing its paint, repairing its cracks, and cultivating the lovely foliage that grew against it.

But over the years, other work left the once-splendid wall neglected, and the wall began to age. The wooden planks that had once hugged each other tightly shrank and splintered. Some of the boards broke, and gaps in the wall appeared here and there. Some people began to grow even more curious about what lay behind the wall. They pressed their faces against the wall to peer through to the other side. But all they could get were glimpses. Some thought from time to time that they might have spied the king! But they couldn't be sure.

Some kingdom dwellers began thinking about taking the wall down. They wanted to see what was on the other side. And they wanted to be on the other side like the others. Besides, the wall didn't seem to serve any purpose, after all. Why should it be there?

But other kingdom dwellers loved the wall and went to work to repair it. One day, while tending the wall, someone removed a dying plant that lay against it. When the tall brush was pulled away, letters that had been carved long ago into the ancient wood could be seen. The letters were barely visible from under the peeling layers of paint and decay, but eventually, after some squinting and scraping, those who had gathered around could faintly make out the letters:

N-O-W-A-L-L-S-H-A-L-L-P-A-S-S

After moments of puzzlement, the one who had removed the brush exclaimed, "No wall shall pass!"

"Yes! That's it!" shouted another.

"Surely, it is a sign that the wall should remain. It is never to pass away," said another. "We have been right to repair it."

"Yes!" some shouted.

"No!" someone else suddenly exclaimed. "It doesn't say that at all. It says, 'NOW ALL shall pass'."

"That's right!" shouted another. "It's a sign that it is time for the wall to come down so that we can all pass through to the other side!"

Soon shouts of "No more wall!" were raised from some in the crowd.

Others shouted back, "No! The wall shall not come down!"

And so the kingdom dwellers quarreled. And quarreled. And quarreled some more. Some replaced the boards as fast as others could tear them away. Still others brought supplies to those on their chosen side. Some cheered the wall builders on, others jeered at them. Soon the wall war had turned into the biggest quarrel the kingdom had ever seen! (Or so they thought—for they had forgotten about the quarrels of their ancestors long ago that had resulted in much bloodshed; those events were so long ago that they no longer seemed important.)

Yet, not all of the kingdom dwellers were involved in the quarrel. In fact, most of them left the wall and those warring about it and went back out into all corners of the kingdom to continue their work. And because they loved their work, they didn't stop when what needed fixing was fixed. They imagined and created, too. They built storehouses and chapels and art galleries and schools and even a theater-in-the-round. (That was a lot of fun!) Sometimes they missed their neighbors at the wall, but they went on working. These kingdom builders were so busy and the wall was so far from their sight, they usually didn't think about the wall warriors—or the wall—at all. The kingdom grew and grew, and the kingdom builders thrived.

Meanwhile, those warring about the wall grew weary and haggard. They didn't seem to notice the kingdom-building going on around them. They thought of everyone in the kingdom as either a wall defender or a wall destroyer, and had no idea that the wall war was far out of the thoughts of many of the kingdom dwellers.

Finally, one day, a great section of the wall was brought down. With loud cheers of victory, those who had torn it down, and even some who hadn't done so, marched through the opening and into the inner kingdom where they had never before entered. Their bodies invigorated and their eyes wide, they looked around, wondering what it was that had been hidden from them for all these years.

As they peered around, they saw the king's attendants busy at work: repairing homes, digging wells, mending clothes, visiting the sick, and growing sweet fruits in abundance and fat vegetables from rich soil. And they went back to work.