The Great Wall Of China
I am not much of a history buff, and so going to the Great Wall of China was not a typical experience for me. When I saw the Chinese Great Wall, I didn't really spend a lot of time thinking about ancient Chinese history. I did not think about how one of the greatest empires in the world became isolated and disconnected from s surroundings to the point where attempted to shut out a whole world by building one of the greatest archectural projects of all history. I didn't think about the Mongols and the other people who attempted to breach the Great wall of China. Don't get me wrong I learned a few great wall facts while I was there, but history is not where my thoughts were.
First of all, I was blown away by the immense scope of the Great Wall of China. People tell you all kinds of Great Wall of China facts, but none of them can encompass . Knowing that can be seen on a satelle, for example, or hearing the tremendous length of the wall can't possibly prepare you for seeing in person. It stretches off out of view in both directions and towers over the surrounding lands.
As I started to think about the Great Wall of China at greater length, however, I was struck by parallels of my own civilization. It seems to me that ever since ancient times, people have put their greatest efforts into building things that divide them. Don't get me wrong was a beautiful wall and I'm glad was there for me to see. Even so, is difficult to fathom the amount of construction took to build . Even nowadays, would be a ghastly project for any society to undertake. Back then, was unprecedented.
When I think about , I can't help but think about the things that we are building. The Great Wall of China has s parallels in the missile defense system that we are currently working on, our spy satelles, our attempts to spy on all surveillance going on around the world. I'm not saying that the stuff is bad or good, but does seem that is a shame for a society to put so much effort into defending self from outsiders. One would think that such an impressive work of technology could be built for a higher purpose.
