Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Fitzpatrick-Or so the proverb goes. I used to agree with the position Peg takes in her previous post, that fences are there to keep people out and are inherently elitist and isolationist. (And who wants to argue with Robert Frost?) That was until I moved within spitting distance of about eight churches. Our current residence is in a Planned Unit Development. It’s not gated, but when the God Squad and the Magazine Militia and the Raffle Ticket Team come through, I certainly wish it was.
I work at home, so here’s what happens when someone rings the doorbell. My two dogs go berserk and don’t stop for quite awhile. The noise breaks my concentration, and if you read any studies about “knowledge workers,” it takes another twenty minutes after the disturbance to get back in the groove. Probably thirty for me. Really, do you think this is what Jesus had in mind? Can you imagine trying to do your job if solicitors had access to your cubicle, your private office, your jobsite? I can’t see how preventing them from ringing my doorbell is a step toward becoming a Stepford Wife.
When I lived in an older and ethnically diverse neighborhood, I used to believe as Peg writes, that these planned communities consisted of generic inhabitants who were only interested in interacting with each other. I was mortified when I married and moved into my husband’s house. But then my perceptions were proved wrong.
Our development contains 61 homes and the most diverse group of folks, racially, culturally, politically and economically. Vietnamese sharecropper farmers and their four kids (the first three in college) live to my right. On the left, a California State University professor of early childhood development with her son and grandson. We have accountants, nurses, pharmacists, teachers, contractors, construction workers, retired folk, Korean-Americans, Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, East Indians, Philippine-Americans and some white people. And because the development is governed by a home owners’ association, we all have to meet four times a year and deal with each other.
This is much more “neighborhood” than I ever experienced in a community without walls.
On my property, I recently installed two concrete block fences. They are easily scaled, and were built not to keep people out, but to keep my dogs in.
To me, this topic illustrates that some of the most sturdy and well-built walls are the preconceived notions we have about them. These are probably the ones that should come down.
I work at home, so here’s what happens when someone rings the doorbell. My two dogs go berserk and don’t stop for quite awhile. The noise breaks my concentration, and if you read any studies about “knowledge workers,” it takes another twenty minutes after the disturbance to get back in the groove. Probably thirty for me. Really, do you think this is what Jesus had in mind? Can you imagine trying to do your job if solicitors had access to your cubicle, your private office, your jobsite? I can’t see how preventing them from ringing my doorbell is a step toward becoming a Stepford Wife.
When I lived in an older and ethnically diverse neighborhood, I used to believe as Peg writes, that these planned communities consisted of generic inhabitants who were only interested in interacting with each other. I was mortified when I married and moved into my husband’s house. But then my perceptions were proved wrong.
Our development contains 61 homes and the most diverse group of folks, racially, culturally, politically and economically. Vietnamese sharecropper farmers and their four kids (the first three in college) live to my right. On the left, a California State University professor of early childhood development with her son and grandson. We have accountants, nurses, pharmacists, teachers, contractors, construction workers, retired folk, Korean-Americans, Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, East Indians, Philippine-Americans and some white people. And because the development is governed by a home owners’ association, we all have to meet four times a year and deal with each other.
This is much more “neighborhood” than I ever experienced in a community without walls.
On my property, I recently installed two concrete block fences. They are easily scaled, and were built not to keep people out, but to keep my dogs in.
To me, this topic illustrates that some of the most sturdy and well-built walls are the preconceived notions we have about them. These are probably the ones that should come down.
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