We sometimes are right to take a fence down. Fences of racism, sexism, fear, nationality, religion, etc. But other fences have dangerous things on the other side. Fences of safety, love, common sense, civility, and more. Those fences were built for reason. They were built to help, protect and nurture us individually and as a society.
If you want to see what happens when those fences aren’t secure, when they aren’t maintained, just look at three examples of the last week.
Joe Wilson spouting off at President Obama during his speech, Serena Williams having a tirade against a line judge in a tennis match, and Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift during her moment at the VMA awards.
All three were probably taught at some point about civility and manners. But all three forgot that they have to maintain that fence, and they thought they would get farther by breaking the rules rather than abiding by them. None of them were protesting evil, none were trying to right an injustice. They were all filled with self and ego, thinking they were better and more worthy than the one they attacked. They, and the media society they live within, haven’t maintained their fence and they have an open path to the field next door. It is a field of meanness, of crassness, of hurt and pomposity. It is a field of celebrity at all costs, fame over substance, money over love. That fence should be restored and not torn down.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.” – Robert Frost, 1874-1963, American poet