Tear Down This Wall! Does the rhetoric ring a bell? When Ronald Reagan, the then President of United States of America, stood up and spoke on June 12, 1987, the most striking words were: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”. Analysts still are at variance as to whether the statement made by the POTUS in the historic city of Berlin did have an effect on the actual start of the demolition, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. However, in retrospect, the words turned out to be prophetic. The German reunification happened in less than a year, after tearing down the wall, on October 3, 1990.
It also reminds me of the last stanza of the song “The Trial” by psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd album “The Wall” written by Roger Waters / Bob Ezrin
“Since, my friend, you have revealed your Deepest fear
I sentence you to be exposed before, Your peers…
Tear down the wall”
Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan while addressing a group of caste organisations in Kerala stated that “Kerala will not be allowed to be turned into a lunatic asylum” and for that he is willing to spend a whopping Rs. 500.00 million! You may ask that is a great way to help the people. He may have had in mind the latest Mental Health Survey report which stated that about 14.4 percent of population aged 18 and above in the state has suffered psychic disorder once in their lifetime. Probably not!
In the report, it was found that about 11% of the population is affected by common mental morbidity, alcohol abuse contributed 4.82% while tobacco was the cause in 7.22%. The most alarming is the rate of suicide risk – 12.6% and requires urgent attention. This is in the most literate state in India where the national average is a high 6%. Kerala No. 1 is twice as much as that of the National figure. Though the Government has a Mental Health Policy, there is no clear plan of action – the report points out. Yes, Kerala would possibly need more mental asylums than any other Indian States in the future. I stand firmly with the statement of our CM, Kerala should never be allowed to be made a lunatic asylum. Does a New Year Day Women’s Wall help? Think, Mr Vijayan.
“To protect the values of Kerala reformation movement and to support the State Government’s stance on the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala temple, women will form a human wall in the State from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram on January 1, 2019” is the mission for the Human Wall as perceived, though that is not now an official admission before the judiciary.
A wall can in no way bring about reformation. A wall is seen as a barrier, and this one is certainly a human wall by the Communists who always prevented progress or entry. The Berlin Wall which was constructed by the Communist Soviet Union to divide a country is still seen as a symbol of oppression and isolation. Here I am forced to say that this Women’s Wall on the New Year’s Day is the product of some individual’s debilitating mental condition to create an impassable barrier between people.
Let us ponder over the same while humming to the lines from the famous poem “Mending Wall” written by Robert Frost in 1914, where he describes a pointless rock wall as a metaphor for the myopia of the culture – bound.
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
You may think of using your Facebook Wall to urge every Keralite to “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL”.
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