The wall that Donald Trump wants Americans to fund is a clear sign of who this man is. That he is willing to make this the focus of his presidency at the cost of billions in tax money that could be better spent, with government workers without work and pay, and so much else needing attention and renewal is a crime.

Is the wall, in Trump's mind, a kind of lasting tombstone pointing to his presidency? It will certainly remind succeeding generations of his xenophobic and cold-hearted brutality against children and parents fleeing from violence, danger, and poverty in their home lands. People will recall his callous disregard of US government employees' plight when the government shut down - their mortgages couldn't be paid and they needed foodbanks to help to get through. It will remind friendly nations of his alienation and callous disregard of their relationship with the US and it will serve as a reminder of bully Trump's affection for soul-brothers like Putin, Duterte, Erdogan, Bolsonaro,Netanyahu,Kim Jung Un, and too many more.

Trump's wall sparks comparison with the great wall between Israelis and Palestinians. It has become a sign of the intentional fragmentation of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories. One side of the wall is a land of privilege and power; the other, parcels of land where Palestinians are oppressed by military control, the ever expanding regulations intending to deprive them of their freedom and land, and the ongoing illegal development of housing for Israeli settlers. That wall will also be remembered, unless, like the Berlin wall it is torn down by popular Israeli and Palestinian revulsion for its symbolic and brutal meaning and commitment to peace rooted in justice.

I have a piece of the Berlin wall in our home. Just a year after the breach was made, I was able to visit Berlin and take a concrete "souvenir" from the wall site. I cherish that memento as a sign that ultimately walls are broken down by the knowledge that there is only one human family and that the divine will is for us all to live in peace with justice and freedom to share in the bounty of the earth in peace. Friends and companions of Jesus and his Way know that dividing walls will be broken down and that in God's good time the sins of hate-filled wall builders will be transformed by self-giving love.

Hymn to sing: Though Ancient Walls.... in Voices United Hymnbook #691 words: Walter Farquharson c. 1974.