Gateway to Negativity
Well, the gate when in yesterday. No automatic opener yet, but I guess that's coming soon. Andrew stopped by the bar for a drink last night and we left together, so he was the first one who got to close it. My feelings about it were unexpected, actually.
Up until this point, I'd been looking at it very selfishly: how it might endanger and inconvenience me. But last night I realized that there was something a little deeper. At least once or twice a week we have to endure some drunk guy at the bar bitching about "Anglo assholes" and their gates and fences and "No Trespassing" signs. I'd always laughed it off because most Hispanic people have gates and fences, too, but then it hit me that most of them also have livestock. This makes me one of those assholes - and that doesn't really feel good. Andrew tried to comfort me by pointing out that we want to get livestock eventually, but that's really not a valid argument because out driveway is well over 1/2 mile long and has pastures on either side. There is no reason for livestock to be there at all. Besides, we're talking about goats or pigs or llamas - not things that really run free.
So, yeah, as soon as we closed that gate I really did feel like an elitist asshole. Granted, it's not my gate and wasn't my idea, but it still stands for something and does little. As Yolanda pointed out, gates only stop people with honor. It doesn't make us safer, really. It only makes us assholes. I know I'm not a bad person. I'm not an elitist asshole, but this really makes me feel like I am. I want New Buffalo to be part of the community, to represent compassion, tolerance, and open-mindedness, biut this gate feels like a step backwards.
It's Bob's gate and I want him to feel safe. He has every right to put it up and to use it. It just makes me sad.
Our driveway before the gate. The actual gate is now located where the driveway seems to disappear from view. Thankfully, it's not right on the street, but about thirty or forty feet in.
Up until this point, I'd been looking at it very selfishly: how it might endanger and inconvenience me. But last night I realized that there was something a little deeper. At least once or twice a week we have to endure some drunk guy at the bar bitching about "Anglo assholes" and their gates and fences and "No Trespassing" signs. I'd always laughed it off because most Hispanic people have gates and fences, too, but then it hit me that most of them also have livestock. This makes me one of those assholes - and that doesn't really feel good. Andrew tried to comfort me by pointing out that we want to get livestock eventually, but that's really not a valid argument because out driveway is well over 1/2 mile long and has pastures on either side. There is no reason for livestock to be there at all. Besides, we're talking about goats or pigs or llamas - not things that really run free.
So, yeah, as soon as we closed that gate I really did feel like an elitist asshole. Granted, it's not my gate and wasn't my idea, but it still stands for something and does little. As Yolanda pointed out, gates only stop people with honor. It doesn't make us safer, really. It only makes us assholes. I know I'm not a bad person. I'm not an elitist asshole, but this really makes me feel like I am. I want New Buffalo to be part of the community, to represent compassion, tolerance, and open-mindedness, biut this gate feels like a step backwards.
It's Bob's gate and I want him to feel safe. He has every right to put it up and to use it. It just makes me sad.
Our driveway before the gate. The actual gate is now located where the driveway seems to disappear from view. Thankfully, it's not right on the street, but about thirty or forty feet in.