--Vonnie Taylor

WE MUST DO SOMETHING or we're doomed wailed members of the Emperor's court.  The evil Barbarian Horde is taking over our provincial cities, ravishing our people, destroying all that is civilized!  How shall we keep them out of the Capitol?"

"OH!  Let's build an unassailable wall!" offered the Emperor's sorcerers.

"Can we not civilize them?" offered the wise men?  Might we unite our
knowledge and skills with theirs and together become an even greater nation?

"NO!  It's hopeless " the sorcerers assured.

"But we have members of those tribes at court!  They are as appreciative and
dedicated to civilization & culture as natives of the Capitol.   They have
learned our language.  They read our books.  They even translate them into THEIR language and teach their people from them.  They also have exceptionally exquisite art and crafts that our people find very valuable & wondrous skills that would insure our united armies were unbeatable.

BUT the horde is overrunning our provincial cities!  We MUST protect the
Capitol.  THAT is the only way to assure civilization survives!  They do not
dress like us.  They do not eat the same things we eat.  They do not speak
our language in their homes, among themselves.  UNLESS they do these things they are NOT civilized & we MUST keep more of them from getting into the capitol.

But what about the provinces?  And, what of the capitol once all the
provinces are overrun?   Should we not try to EDUCATE the tribes so that
they will value all that we hold dear?

THAT is the job of those living in the provinces!  We can send them books &
scrolls.  We can even have teachers who were educated in the Capitol assist
them.

The provincials are doing their best, but the tribes understandably are not
interrested in paying taxes levied & obeying laws passed by a court that
sees them as barbarians, that is working to do all it can to keep them out
of the capitol simply because they dress differently, talk differently, and
like different foods.  These are superficial things.  They are very like us
in all the important things.  They love their families, they want the best
for them.  They want order in their lives.  They are intellegent.  In all
these & other important ways they are like us.

BUT they are BARBARIANS.  If more of them were allowed at court or in the capitol, they would surely distroy all we hold dear.  Civilizaiton would
disappear.  Art, music, literature, all learning and knowledge would be
wasted, replaced by who knows what!    LOOK at the provinces where the
barbarian horde has taken over!

Yes look at the provinces.  True some were bloodied by fierce battle.
Sometimes the tribes won, sometimes our people repulsed them.  Others
welcomed the tribespeople with open arms.  In some of these the tribespeople
were assimilated into our culture.  In others, our people discovered that
they actually preferred the tribespeople's way of life.  They simply dropped
out of our way of life, taking what they liked of it with them into the new
one.  In most of the provinces, however, tribespeople who have settled there
and our people who live there manage to live together fairly well.  Yes
there are squabblles and petty power struggles, but they still manage to
work together to provide the best for ALL their families.  Each group can
benefit from the other's expertise, enjoy their own AND the other's culture.

But it will NEVER work in the capitol.  The Barbarians will surely want to
CHANGE everything, to make US eat, dress, and talk like THEY do.

Uh... isn't that what WE are trying to make them do before we will live
peacefully with them, before we will open our city to them?

OUR way is better.  We have a longer history.  If they are not willing to
join us and live as we do, they are a danger to all that is civilized.  The
wall we wish to bill will protect civilization from them.

And what happens when everyone outside the wall is a mixture of our culture
and the tribes'?  When all outside the city  have gone their own way because
the wall was so impregnable and the gate so well-guarded and confining that it
discouraged nearly everyone from coming in - even to bring food and trade
goods?