...It's our land. We measured it and broke it up. We were born on it, and we got killed on it, and died on it. Even if it's no good, it's still ours. That's what makes it ours—being born on it, working it, dying on it. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it.What do we mean when we say we own something? The word has different shades of meaning. We say we "own" our clothes, by which we mean they are our property. But we also say we "own" someone as a friend, by which we mean we acknowledge the relationship, not that we possess them. What makes something our property? A book may sit on your shelf, but can you really say it's yours until you've read it and slipped bookmarks in the folds or dog-eared the pages or stuck sticky notes to favorite paragraphs or added notes in the margins or whatever you do with books—in other words, until you've made it yours by spending time with it and letting part of yourself become involved in it? The relationship makes it yours, not the purchase.
scort בנות: מדריך מקיף
4 days ago
Sorry for poking my nose in unannounced. I remember you from the CLUSA conference and Hannah just friended me on FB - I found your blog, yada, yada...
ReplyDeleteAnyway ownership of land is something that I understand and have thought much about. It's really place not land, and place probably owns us not the other way around. I'm sure you've read Wendell Berry, but try Faulkner. I've just begun reading him and your quote from The Grapes of Wrath reminded me of his writing.
No, come in and welcome. I feel bad because I know we met but I'm failing to connect names with faces.
ReplyDeletePlace owns us... I like that thought, though I'm trying to get it to make sense with our place as stewards of creation. Perhaps in the same way a king belongs to his subjects? I've only read a couple of Faulkner's short stories, so I'll make a note of that. I've read some Wendell Berry but need to read more; he has a lot of Chesterton's uncommon common sense, I think.