In their long dialogue with the sea the Dutch have learned that it cannot be stopped but merely directed or tempered, and so they have always selected flexible construction. Their dikes are not made, as are our defenses, with reinforced concrete. Rather they are constructed with layers of fascines—bundles of twigs—laid on courses of sand and clay, the whole of which is then armored with masonry. The dunes, stabilized with grasses, provide an even greater flexibility than dikes, accepting the waves but reducing their velocity and absorbing the muted forces. In contrast concrete walls invite the full force of the waves and finally succumb to the undercutting of th insidious sea. The Dutch dikes are fitting.