Or has the world truly become a wild place, and full of violence? Consider: The Great Wall of China was built to repel invaders. Hadrian's wall was built to repel invading Celts. Now, Palestinian violence has forced Israel to construct its own-- though it pales in comparison --security wall to thwart homicide bombers.

There's lot's of talk around the country, even in Congress, about building a wall along our southern border, ostensibly to stem the flow of illegal immigration, but in fact, the darker purpose is to close a porous, poorly defended border that could well give easy access to terrorists whose sole purpose in regard to America is to bring her to her knees, before striking off her head.

And now India is fast-tracking the completion of its own fence along its 2,500 mile border with Bangladesh, to keep out militant groups linked to al Qaeda.

No wall built today will ever rival the mother of all walls, but their purpose will always be the same: To repel terrorism and the violence it employs.

Fear drives the construction of walls. And there seems to be a growing number of things to fear each day.