Walls

"Sometimes we put up walls...

Not to keep people out but to see who cares enough to knock them down."

I found those words, as well as some scribbled designs and drawings, written on the back of a quiz handed in by one of my students the other day. I had told the class they could draw on the back of the quiz if they finished early, but when I saw the message this girl wrote, I was surprised.

I teach teenagers (not small kids), but the statement about "walls" was profound in a way I didn't expect. And what made it even more interesting was the fact that the girl who wrote it is someone I can picture the statement applying to perfectly.

This view from the roof of my apartment brings to mind another context that involves walls.

Living in cities and suburbs as an adult has helped me realize something about my relationship with wide open skies and other spaces in nature. Something in me seems to need those skies and spaces. And the further or longer I am away from them, the more city buildings and concrete feel like walls keeping me out.