Ladies and Gentlemen…. It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for… It’s time for….
The One Word at a Time blog carnival!
This week’s word is: Fences
Remember, if you tweet your post or any of the others in the carnival, please use the hashtag #owaat.
Fences, Fences and more Fences
Fences.
We build them, we sit on them we mend them, we look over them and see that the grass is greener on the other side, we surround ourselves with them… some of us even ‘fence’ stolen property.
Fences are all around us. In little phrases and in the real world. We can’t escape fences anywhere.
Which is interesting because what is a fence?
A fence is, in essence a way of separating one thing from another.
We use fences to show where our property ends and our neighbors’ begins. Sometimes we make them big and solid so no-one can see over or through them.
But why?
Why do we want to separate ourselves all the time?
It’s true that there are many people out there who live to steal and hurt and attack and fences provide us some legitimate security from that but really, do we need as many as we have.
We pull our stuff together, hoard it close and throw up a fence around it so no-one else can get it.
We put fences for security but they become much more than that, they become barriers to community.
Many people I’m sure have happy memories of talking over the fence to their next door neighbors and that’s great… but it’s interesting how protective that fence is. It keeps people at arm’s length and literally blocks them from getting too close.
Where we lived when we first got married, we would have some good conversations with our neighbors over the back fence, but we had GREAT conversations with them when instead we went out the front door and met where there were no fences.
All of our front yards were open so all the people in the street could come together and enjoy each other’s company. No restrictions, no security blankets, just open, wonderful friendship.
All of them were open except one… and I don’t know who lived there or anything about them. Their little fence that they put up cut them off from the rest of the community – and that’s precisely my point.
We build too many fences.
We as people were made for community, made to come together and we hurt ourselves and our whole community by putting up fences both physical and emotional.
Think today about the fences in your neighborhood and what effect they have on community… and then think about the fences you put up to cut yourself off from others.
Are they a good thing?
If not, let’s all take our fences down together!
I’m with you, Peter. Fences have a place, but it’s when we live barricaded behind them to shut the world and everyone else out that we rob ourselves of so much. Not only that, but we’re robbing others as well. Thanks.
You say it so much more succinctly than me! I feel like I just wasted 400 words!
I am so totally blessed to live without fences made by man…
You are truly blessed!
I’m not a fan of fences. I only like them when they are meant to guide roses or beans.
now that IS a good use for a fence!
I enjoyed your Post very much. If we did not have a fence, our three dogs would go visiting all by themselves. God probably frowns at the denominational fences we put up when we should have more community and conversation with our “neighbors.” We need some physical fences, it is the ones we cannot see that need to be torn down.
I am reminded of that old cowboy song, “Don’t Fence Me In.” Now I can’t stop singing it.
Yet another reason I don’t like dogs….
You’re absolutely right though! Thanks for commenting.
some fences are friendlier than others…fer sure.
I’m glad I don’t have a visible fence between me and my neighbor but I (and they!) are thankful for my invisible fence that keeps my dog out of their yard.
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We are fenced in. But it’s black vinyl chain link, put up to keep the dogs in, the kids safe, and wanderers from falling into the pool. The dogs are gone. The pool fell down. But the neighbor’s chickens can’t get in, and the littlest grandgirl can’t get out–yet.
I must say, one of our labs was persistent and refused to be fenced in. She simply dug out from under. Until she got too fat to fit under.
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This was definitely a pondering one this week. Thanks for posting. I wrote about it as well.
http://writingcanvas.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/blog-carnival-fences/
what a great topic! loved your initial post. and while my initial thoughts were more serious, i just couldn’t get there in my final posting. but it was a fun write! thanks for the prompt.
steph
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