On this day, two years ago I wrote about fences.
One Apple A Day #620 - good fences
They say that "good fences make good neighbours." But is it? Do they really make our neighbours better? If yes, how?
We build walls around us made of rules, policies and laws to feel safe. To protect what we have from others. To be sure that we can collaborate with others even if we don't trust them fully.
But that's the trap with walls. They close you in as much as they keep the rest of the world out. They protect your world, but at the same time, they make it smaller.
I believe that within every human being, there is this bigger extraordinary WHO longing to expand. Like any substance, to expand it needs space. Our bigger WHO also needs structures that can support its growth. But it's a delicate balance. Because if we don't pay attention, those same structures become walls and fences that closed ourselves in. And without space to grow, we shrink.
So, that's my challenge. How can I make good fences that really make us good neighbours? Fences that help all of us expand our bigger WHO instead of shrinking into our walled garden?
Searching for the source of this proverb, I found out it became common after Robert Frost used it in his poem "Mending Wall" published in 1914.