Speech About the Great Wall

Of all the sights that I saw during that trip, the one that provoked the most thought on my part was the Great Wall. The Great Wall defies imagination. It is simple and strong. It winds gracefully up and down. It scales slowly but steadily the distant hill, to disappear down into the valley beyond, only to climb again, inexorably, to surmount the next mountain in its path. As one examines the individual stones with which it was built, one realizes how much sweat and blood there must have been in its complex history. As one looks at the overall structure, at its strength and elegance, its real significance begins to emerge. It is long. It is tenacious. It is flexible in every turn, but is persistent and persisting in the long range development. Its overall unity of purpose is what gives it strength and character. And its overall unity of purpose is what makes it one of the man-made structures on the surface of the earth to become first visible to a visitor approaching our planet from outer space…