About Fences

On my way back home from running an errand not long ago, I saw a fence where I hadn’t seen one before.  Curious Kate that I am,  I started looking around as I drove and saw that there were quite a few fences already ensconced in our neighborhood.   I knew that a number of the barriers  had gone  up around backyards and sideyards, but I had suddenly become aware of seeing  some new ones, a few of them running the length of  the sideyards. Thankfully, none of them are across the front. There’s still the clear space of lawns. We don’t have deer here in this neighborhood  as we did where I  lived in Maryland, and the critters would come in the night and eat up my tomato plants, even the salvia and other flowers in the little garden  I was trying to grow. I didn’t put up a fence though. Nobody else had one. So why these fences here, I wondered.

To me, the fences  beg for an explanation, which I don’t  have, and I  haven’t asked for one, despite my curiosity.  But it sometimes happens that an enterprising salesman comes around and sells a few homeowners on buying things they don’t need, as happened when one outfit came selling house numbers  on the concrete at the edge of our driveways. A few people actually did  go along with the idea, even though they already had the numbers  on their mailboxes.

At the mention of fences, some of you may  think of August Wilson’s powerful, award-winning  play  Fences, but as I chewed on the idea of a reason for the neighborhood  fences, my thoughts led me to Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Walls.”

The first line of the poem says, “Something there is that doesn’t like a wall.” Quite an arresting beginning for a poem, one that  prods you  to think in a critical way. Well, I would  say there’s something that doesn’t like a fence, something like an innate sense of community that a fence pushes  against. In the poem, an old New England farmer is out in early spring reluctantly  helping his neighbor rebuild  the wall between their properties after winter weather had loosened some stones and pieces of wood. The speaker in the poem doesn’t think it necessary to have a wall between them and says so. His neighbor, bent on the repair job, says, “Good fences make good neighbors.” A little reasoning doesn’t deter the fence-builder because, as if he hadn’t heard a word his companion was sayng,   he repeats his opinion that “good fences make good neighbors.” This little scene is so familiar.  Some people don’t analyze their reasons for their beliefs and actions. They just know it’s the ways they see things, the way they’ve always done. No need to change. Well-reasoned arguments don’t move them. What’s that  old  adage? “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”  The  old farmer’s  neighbor belongs to that club.

After a while, the farmer-speaker makes what I consider the crucial point of the poem when he says, somewhat in a tone of  obvious reuke:

“Before I built a wall, I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out
And to whom I’d like to give offense.”

There’s  a world of thought  in these few lines. Some people build a fence to keep other people out—out of their intimacy, out of their inner feelings, out of their private space. And they have the freedom and right to do just that, but what are they missing by erecting the fence?  They actually  fence themsleves in when they decide   whom  to wall out or  wall in. Yes, they’re free to do whatever they please, but is  their freedom inclusive or exclusive? Are some people welcome beyond the fence while others are not?

On the other hand, there are  those who try to wall in other  people, putting constraints on their freedom. It happens in any number of social situations–in families with children,  in  marriages, churches,  and clubs. Is this kind of fencing  selfish, or is it protective, or both? Viewed in a metaphorical sense, fences are  about relationships and can have multi-layered meanings. Borders, walls, fences shape and influence human interactions. Putting up a fence, whether physical or metaphorical,  can injure otherwise harmonious relationships. We should  take the old farmer’s words seriously and consider to whom we’d likely   give offense by erecting our fence.  If  we examine them, we’ll find that most times our fences aren’t necessary.

Navigating life with  our fellow beings can sometimes be challenging, and some  of us may think that the best way to deal with the situation  is to put up a fence.  But in a singular way,  by raising our sights above  our perceived problem, we can find a solution to any desire we may have to  erect a  fence.  Instead, we can try to foster community by  making an effort  to be  open and welcoming.  Jesus  said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men [and women] to me” (John 12:32).   The  centrality of His presence in our lives can make all the difference. No barrier, no wall. Just walk  right into His unconditional acceptance,  and then extend  the experience to  others.

Blessings,

Judith

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“Love recognizes no barriers.
It jumps hurdles, leaps fences,
penetrates walls
to arrive at its destination
full of hope.”
                              Maya Angelou

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Hello All,

Here is  a flyer I prepared to publicize my books. It has  received
very positive responses.  I hope you will share it  with your friends
and family. I’m sure there’s something here that you can recommend.
Thanks.  JN