Tale Weaver – #236 – 15th August – Over the Back Fence, |Word of the day challenge & Your daily word prompt. 15/8/19.
Over my back fence is a house, less than forty feet away, who’s occupants I have never met. My family has been in this house for the whole of my life but I have never once spoken to the occupants of that house there.
I suppose it doesn’t help that I have an eight foot boundary wall between myself and them or that they live on a completely different street but still, you would think once in those thirty eight years I would have come across them; just once!
This leads me to wonder why we build ourselves into our homes and gardens with walls so high? obviously its for security reasons that we want to keep people out but why don’t we build these boundaries in such a way as so we can keep connected with our neighbours too.
Are we so intolerant of others now that we would rather wall or fence ourselves in. Would removing fences improve our emotional wellbeing? Would we become more aware of our neighbours and look out for each other more?
Its sad to think that we have no choice really but to build our fortresses against those that would steal our things or hurt us in some way but our society seems to have given us little choice but to be that way.
Would you feel safe if you had no fences around your home? Im not sure I would.
Depending on the neighbors and the neighborhoods… but you’ll never know what kind of neighbors you have until you venture out.
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I’m continually distressed by this issue–we need to be safe, secure–yet we also need “others”. I’ve lived in the same apartment for 22 years–it’s a small complex, and I’ve always been the oldest resident (maternal), so each time someone new moved in I would bake brownies or something and take it as a welcome gift when I introduced myself. For the most part it has NOT been a rewarding experience, and this year is the last that I will put myself out–as clearly everyone here now wants to be left ALONE. It’s just sad, I think.
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