Making 'the wall' happen

Many images come to mind when I hear the words “the wall.” There is the Great Wall of China. The Berlin Wall. Israel’s Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. The massive wall defended by the Night’s Watch on “Game of Thrones.” And, of course, the Pink Floyd album of the same name from my childhood days blaring, “We don’t need no thought control.”

Nowadays, in the United States, “the wall” has become a point of contention in our polarized political discourse over border security and immigration. It’s part of a national debate that increasingly seems to be an intractable all-or-nothing proposition with no winners.