Talk Territory

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People are just like the rest of God's creatures; we need a space to call our own. It's built into our natures by what they call these days "genetic imprint." We used to call it "natural leanin’s" but words change over time. What we called a "hankerin’ for space" , smart fellars today call "territorial imperative."

What makes this tough is that in most places, especially in the big cities, all the good territory already belongs to somebody else.

I live in the country now but I lived in a big city for a while. This particular city was a hot place down south that started with an H. It smelled like sulfur and was chocked full of murderers, adulterers, rapists and thieves. People were crammed together like rats in a rain barrel. They were climbing all over each other to keep their heads above water.

I asked one man what he was doin' and he told me he was tryin' to "make it." I couldn’t rightly see what he was makin’ but as I was young and didn't have much sense, I jumped right in with him and set to scramblin'. I didn't want folks to think I was a slacker.

Since there’s not any open frontier in the city, no new territory openin’ up for folks to satisfy their urge for land, people have had to cook up a whole new land rush in what I call "Talk Territory". "Talk Territory" is what you get when your talk beats out the other guy’s talk in the "Public Opinion." The "Public Opinion" is what everybody thinks that doesn’t think for themselves. These days, that’s a passel of folks and if you can get them to buy your line, you can fence off a big spread in "Talk Territory".

Working in the city, I noticed that there were three main herds of people going after new territory.

One bunch gets their land by making up something new. New ideas lead to new geegaws for Joe Public and pretty soon you can stake yourself off a pretty good ranch that wasn't there before. The right idea and a little bit of elbow grease and it comes right out of thin air. Let's call these folks "Makers." They’re the type that made America into the best country in the world.

The problem is, once you "make it", you got to hold it. This ain’t too easy, but even so, most regular folks take holdin’ on as their main occupation. Let's call them "Holders." These folks are tryin' to protect their own just like an old farmer guardin' his fenceline with a shotgun. In the big city, most of them aren't in too good a shape. Their ranches tend to have erosion problems, like credit cards and mortgages. Most of the ones I knew were working their hearts out tryin' to get "ahead." Far as I could see though, they had heads; they just weren't too good at using them. The third kind of person I call a "Taker." They're claim jumpers. They take someone else's territory without asking. Once a Maker makes a claim in the Talk Territory that folks start to believe in or start to buy, a Taker is sure to show up and try to take it away.

If it's done by a big business, it's called a hostile takeover. If it's done by investors in a small business, it's called "franchising" or "going public." If it's done by a city, it's called "eminent domain." If it's done by congress, it's called the "will of the people." If it's done by IRS, it's called the "common good."

If you did it, you'd be called a crooked SOB.

You see, Makers build a business or a city, but pretty soon Takers take over (seein' as how that's what they're good at) and begin to run it. There was still plenty o' Makers in that hot town down south but the Takers had ruled the roost for years.

Now the result of all this fightin' over territory in the city ain’t too pretty. With more bulls than there are pastures, there is some mighty nasty head buttin' goin' on. Folks get to feelin' like they aren't safe anywhere. They feel trapped in their houses. Just like white mice in a cage they quit takin' proper care of their young. This makes the young people, who are full of wild juices anyway, even more agitated than they normally are. The church, the schools and the police are so busy avoiding law suits and mending fences in Talk Territory (public opinion) that nobody has time to listen to the kids. Since there aren't any quiet places or open country to go blow off steam, the youngsters start buyin' video games, takin' cocaine and joinin' gangs just to keep from exploding.

Next thing you know, the territory problem is out of control. Everbody is fuming, fussing and makin' funny hand signals at each other on the road. Nobody gets any peace. Problems build on top of problems until all the Makers and Takers that climbed to the top are rushin' out into the country to buy weekend homes just so they can get out of the mess they made. The Holders are holdin' on so tight, they forget to plow the ground and plant the seeds until nothin's growin'. The inner city starts to feel like the last days of Saigon or maybe Oklahoma durin' the depression. Usually somebody sets it on fire.

When things settle down, we all start looking for someone to blame. We fire all the bureaucrats, vote in new politicians, hamstring the teachers and the police and burn all the books like a crazed bunch of vigilantes. After this fruitless riot of finger pointing, we go back to work just like we did something about the problem. A few months or years later, the whole things starts over again.

Well, I got fed up and I decided to do something about society's problems...

I left.

I bought a few acres in the country. I put up a barbed wire fence.

If you knew me when I lived in the big city , you are probably dead. If not, don't follow me. I have a biological need for space and if I don't have enough, I act crazy. I can't help it. If you come on my land I am liable to take a shot at you. I am doing this for your own good.

Strong fences make better neighbors.