#113: The Bridge
Standing between two cultures
“Build bridges, not walls”. It’s the phrase of our time. As is expected of the human race, we are a divided world: one side wants to build as many bridges as possible, the other wants to knock them down, building walls in their place. By doing so, they build walls around themselves and their opinions, retreating into isolation. Yet, as they also say, “no man is an island”.
We need bridges to cross a whole variety of obstacles, for that is their very purpose, bridging an otherwise impassable gap. There are those everyday obstacles of the world: rivers, railways, roads. Then there are the more metaphorical obstacles, the intangible world of difficulties, as we try to bridge the gap between rich and poor; the gap in access to adequate health care or education; the gap in our knowledge of cultures that are not our own.
This particular bridge, while one of those everyday functioning bridges providing a way across the water, is also part of a larger cultural bridge. It is situated in the Portland Japanese Garden, a wonderful outside space high up in the hills of Portland, Oregon, USA. This garden acts as a connection between the cultures and countries of the United States and Japan through the shared world of nature. It is a garden with a purpose:
“This is a place to discard worldly thoughts and concerns and see oneself as a small but integral part of the universe.
Born out of a hope that the experience of peace can contribute to a long lasting peace. Born out of a belief in the power of cultural exchange.”
This garden itself is a bridge, its two destinations being the United States and Japan. By being the bridge itself, this garden is suspended over this cultural gap, becoming a neutral no-man’s land. When we enter this garden we ourselves are suspended between the two cultures, in the way that other bridges suspend us over running water or a railroad track.
It is in this space between the two worlds that we are offered a new perspective. When I walked across another smaller bridge in the Japanese garden I was hovering just inches above the water, looking down into the dark water which was alive with koi fish swimming about, splashes of colour in the murky darkness. While bridges enable us to make new connections between places, they also enable us to see from another perspective as we cross that bridge, allowing us to look into the very gap we are trying to cross.
Yet for all the knowledge bridges provide and the worlds they enable us to explore, still we find that:
“We build too many walls, and not enough bridges”
~ Joseph Fort Norton
Our world may be growing globally, but we are not truly international. Barriers and obstacles still exist, whether that be your nationality, your wealth, your gender, your religion — it goes on. This Japanese Garden is one example of a cultural bridge which we need to remember the power of, one interpretation out of many to be made from the call to build more bridges. Our world will not survive if we continue to isolate ourselves, building more and more walls, whether they be tangible or intangible. Bridges are the structures we need for a successful and more peaceful future, so we had better get building.
