30 May, 2005
border wars, chapter 3

there was no conscious intention to leave this journal behind for the past, oh, five days... more correctly, recent events proved to be so reminiscent of things i'd written before, that repetition forced me to abandon traveling the same ground.

i've written, in the past, about locking horns with my "neighbor", back at the small plot of ground that remains the final grasp on what is left of the family "empire" (if empire means four hundred acres. of which, about eight remain).

my grandmother, who the fates dictated to be the final caretaker of consequence, sold a part to a veterinarian in the late fifties, upon which his empire was built. reluctant to leave behind the old plantation mindset of master-and-servant, power, to this old, bitter and supposedly "christian" man means grabbing for every inch that he can pilfer. thinking that aggression equals "rights".

long story short: two months ago, he had his tenant nephew erect a fence for his goats, clearly encroaching into what had been mapped as my right-of-way through my mother's property to my own... as far back into the hills as i could get (and that no one else would want).

it was all clearly marked on the map, duly executed and signed by surveyor, health department, county government and lawyer besides. yet this erratic old misanthrope has decided to invole the authorities. like sending a county deputy to look into the matter.

yeah, that sounds like bullshit to me, too. and, more delays. and more dislike for supposedlly "human" beings. all too human, perhaps.

all too repetitive, as well.

a luta continua... the struggle continues.

people who have little respect what they have... those with too much find no satisfaction unless they have "more"... that "StairwayToHeaven" thing, gone awry.

the whole futility of the matter came home to me, yesterday... as i was taking care of mom's lawn and landscaping... keeping an eye on the activity, next door.
part of my chores included tending the gravesite where my grandmother and brother chose to be interred... deep in the woods, far from all of the madness. as i was taming the wild grass, it came to me that when my time comes to leave this place, there will be no one to do the same for me... not that i choose to be placed into the ground, rather than strewn atop it.

just, there will be none left behind that such a duty of respect would be important.

in the order of things, this is how it has always been. and i can accept the truth.

unfortunate that some think they can rewrite the natural order to their advantage.

perhaps, some people just live too long.

.