“Blessed are the wall builders,” that’s what they
say. It’s the best job to have apparently. Almost no openings unless you are born into a
family of wall builders – or rather of approved wall builders.
That’s what we are. Family Wang Approved Wall Builders. My brothers and I were expected to join the
family business, no consideration of what we might want. Father and Grandfather built the business
together and now it must carry on into the next generation. And I’m not even the first-born son either.
My sisters will all make good marriages because
we are an esteemed family. We brothers
would have a better choice of girls to choose a wife from, if we were ever to
get time off to actually meet a girl.
The work is never-ending. It will cross so much of China once we finish
building it. Imagine a very long bridge,
battered by wind and rain so it loses its colour quickly. But the bridge must keep its colour so men
are put to work recolouring it. And the
bridge is so long that when they finish, they have to return to the beginning
and start all over again. That’s as this
job. Never-ending.
The stones are heavy and awkward. They cut my knuckles and roughen my
palms. My nails are full of dust and painfully
rip off almost daily. I have scars and
lumps covering both hands and my muscles are as developed as a prize fighters’.
We live a rich life but sometimes as I look up
at the heavens, I wish I could have a different existence. I would follow the Monkey King’s journey and
travel with Buddha. I would find
immortality.
Inspiration: Building the Great Wall of China
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