Parapet walls have been built for ages. They were used to defend cities and kingdoms from enemy attack. It could be a rampart, elevation of earth or large boulders. They must have given a sense of security to the population within. It served as as bastion of confinement, given the fear of the outside.
Times changed and so did the purpose of the parapet’s. They were built so that people do not fall over a bridge or the roof. You lean over the parapet and watch the river flow by. There is no fear of the enemy outside anymore. Benefit to society has been immense.
Parapet’s do not need to be constructed anymore. From being a society, built around mutual respect and common purpose, we have devolved into an individualistic society, and constructed a parapet, around ourselves as individuals. The parapet’s are not made of earth or concrete anymore. They are made of fear of the other, resentment, pride, indignation, prejudice and bitterness. They are flamed and hardened by the politics, religion, bias, nationalism, greed and insatiability. The millennials try to look over their parapet’s, into the world of social media, where society and fellowship now resides. The human within is lonely, angry and sad. The road from fear to hatred is very short……..