The other day I was recycling at the town dump when I spotted a friendly face doing the same.  The breeze was refreshing, the sky was dotted with clouds, and one could not help but call the day a "10".  As we talked about the weather and the like I pointed out to my friend the nostalgic nature of the fellow on the tractor cutting the tall grasses on the hill behind us.  Only 17 years ago that very grassy hill was a mountain of trash and debris that I would add my weekly bit to on a given Saturday.  The recycling center didn't exist then and the seagulls reigned.  Watching this bucolic scene unfold was bittersweet as I told my friend that this very scene is what I craved on my day to day; not just by happenstance.  I told her about the property in Bristol, RI we would be closing on and that in Bristol scenes like this are everyday.  She seemed torn in a way when she spoke of not knowing how to get out.  I felt compassion for her and smiled in understanding.

What does it mean to get out?  For centuries farmers would begin to work the soil once the frost thawed in order to maximize crop potential.  Every Spring they would take the rocks that heaved up from the soil and add them to the wall.  This wall served many purposes, among them a way to establish boundaries and to keep the flocks and herds contained.  When a beast would meet the rock wall it would hopefully turn away instead of continuing it's intended path. Sometimes a determined animal would brave the rocky fortress and get loose.  When lines are crossed mayhem could ensue.  Or that is what we are to believe.  Many times the brave animal simply jumps the wall and grazes calmly on the other side, without a care in the world but from unspoiled grasses. 

Stone walls, lines of demarcation, boundaries; these are all divisive by design and by nature. Human nature is divisive and duality in thought is a good example of how very basic this notion is. Awareness of self implies duality. Awareness of others implies compassion.

Lines of demarcation are funny things. Sometimes they are drawn on a property map and sometimes they are all in the mind.  A strange phenomena is when a cat will avoid a line of demarcation such as the change from a wood floor to a carpet for example. I've seen cats jump over that line as if it were necessary for survival. I love cats.