Unpainted walls reflect mood as I move through unfamiliar streets. Evidences of hard times speak through walls of gray. The untold story of better times quietly reveals itself in faded signs of past commerce on buildings long since abandoned or appropriated for lesser function. Economic depression confronts me on all sides in spite of the bright sunlit day. By contrast my own modest monetary sufficiency seems opulent.
Evidences of hard times speak through walls of gray.
As I turn the corner yet another more expansive wall comes into view. The building is still in use, although for what I am not sure, perhaps a boarding house, or maybe a local bar with living quarters in the back or upstairs. The blank rear wall is devoid of distinguishing features except for a few small windows and one sagging doorway. The height and width of the wall are what set it apart. Much taller than the surrounding single story structures and perhaps a quarter of a block wide, it is a single vertical plane of weathered wood absent of color, but revealing volumes of untold stories of struggle and pain expressed in the grayness. What lives are connected with this wall? How many times has there been joy, heartache or violence just behind it?
As I write about this photograph, half a lifetime brings new perspective through almost thirty years. Over those years the ups and downs of an American life have been lived. The gray wood of the wall personifies the hard times, the times when there seemed no way through difficulty. In those times we see only the gray, lifeless wall, uncertain of what lies on the other side, uncertain of our abilities to survive or go on in the face of death or an inevitable lifetime of struggle. In a way we are right. Human strengths are no match for death, no match for impossible odds. So we stare at the wall and allow its enormity and death dealing grayness to overwhelm us in our frailty, refusing to acknowledge the providential nature of God. In our stubbornness to control our own destiny and the destiny of those we love, we find no cracks to exploit in the forbidding wall. Our American independence is stymied as we deal with universal truth. Yes, we do have pain. Yes, there is despair in the forbidding walls we encounter over a lifetime. Over time we find we are inadequate to prevent the tragedies of life and we are not spared heartache.
As we reexamine the photograph we uncover a greater universal truth. Our eye is subtly drawn to that spot of color in the window belying faint optimism … there is more to the story. There is life on the other side of this particular un-scalable wall. Evidence of hope is revealed by our inability to ignore this detail of color in a depressing place. How did this hope arrive? After all, there are no exploitable cracks in the wall, only an old window with a spot of color bringing unexplainable warmth to the heart. Our eye falls to the word below the color … “cheer.” Is this a synonym for the joy to be found on the other side of the wall or a cruel hoax in the middle of hopelessness? It depends on our response. Do we dismiss the hopeful message or embrace it?
By dismissing the message we continue on our independent journey coping with wall after wall in frustration or joy depending on the strength and ability of our flesh and mind. If we embrace the message we are beginning to deal with the messenger. And who but a loving God can speak through a cheer box in an old window about the condition of our lives? That message in the widow reveals that God himself is the one who spoke to me in the middle of my despair. In a life and death struggle he spoke to me with a message of hope that eventually lifted me past the wall.
There will there be more walls in my life. The difference now is that by recognizing and submitting to the God who created me, I can call on him to help me scale them.
Author Profile: Ron is a professional photographer turned author, graphic designer and webmaster. His first novel, Dear Walt, was published in 2008. He is also responsible for the design, implementation and content for several web sites. 
Your post The Right Idea » Only the Wall was very interesting when I found it over google on Thursday by my search for the wall. I have your blog now in my bookmarks and I visit your blog again, soon. Take care.