Daniel Schorr, analyst at National Public Radio, is on target when he said, "The experience of ancient China seems to have had little effect on human 'wallitis'.

The Romans tried to shut out the Scots from Northern England. The French tried to wall out Germany with the Maginot line. More recently the Soviets built a formidable wall between East and West Berlin. Closing off problems prevents the flow of people but not the solving of problems.

Presently the United States is building a 700 mile wall on its border with Mexico to restrict immigration, the Israelis are creating a 436-mile "security barrier" to keep out suicide bombers, India is walling off Kashmir and Bangladesh, China wants to get back into wall-building to seal off North Korea, Russia is contemplating walling off Chechnya, most recently, American soldiers are working on sealing off the Sunni district in Baghdad, reports Mark Ehrman and Schorr.

American poet Robert Frost wrote, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down."

In Al Gore's new book "The Assault on Reason" he asks, "Why has America's public discourse become less focused on reason? Why are important decisions not dealt within the public sphere with logic, truth and reason?"

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., before the invasion of Iraq, said on the Senate floor, "This Chamber is, for the most part, silent ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate. No discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this war. We stand passively mute in the United States Senate."

The alternative to building walls is our freedom of open discussion and conflict resolution. We now know that we were misled in entering war against Iraq. We once thought our oceans were our safety. Now diplomacy, backed by strength, is a far surer way to achieve the goal of peaceful resolution.

I agree with Gore that we are at a fateful juncture with history. Perhaps it is not a physical barrier so much as a mental barrier of arrogance that will affect the outcome.

Walls are built from fear and not from desire to resolve human problems, no matter how severe. They have never really proven effective. Modern technology and tunneling have a way of making them obsolete. The basic problem is the wall itself for it prevents the patient intercourse of resolution. An ancient Mongolian proverb says, "Two men in friendship are stronger than walls of stone."

Amen until next Wednesday.

The opinions in this column are solely those of the writer. Wolf is a retired minister and lives in Valparaiso. Write to him c/o The Times, 1111 Glendale Blvd., Valparaiso, IN