A Special Kind of Diplomacy

There are many kinds of walls; ancient ones, recent ones and some still as a plan on paper.

By Tuula Pere

May 18^th, 2018

Illustration by Andrea Alemanno

A Special Kind of Diplomacy

There are many kinds of walls; ancient ones, recent ones, and some still as a plan on paper. All of them are keeping something inside and protected - but the others are outside for various reasons. Sometimes an outsider - a little sailor, perhaps - is needed to make people see that they could use the stones of the wall for some much more useful purpose.

In a new children’s book Between the Walls, I tell you the story of Leo, who settles down on a no-man’s-land between the walls of two feuding towns. This mysterious diplomat makes friends with the children from both sides.

Also in real life, a child’s heart is often more open and tolerant than the heart of a grown-up, who has already seen and experienced a lot in life. If we could observe people on the other side of barriers - built by politics, religion, race or any other reason - like a child with friendly curiosity, we could see them differently. There might be less conflict and crises but more time for flying kites together, over the mutual shore.