From the desk of our Executive Director
“Mending Wall”
Lately, I have been thinking about Robert Frost’s poem, “Mending Wall.” I’ve heard its most famous line, “Good fences make good neighbors,” repeated countless times over the years, and I had assigned some truth to it. But I found myself going back to the poem and reading it with a renewed sense of purpose. To my surprise, it’s Frost’s neighbor who repeats over and over that “Good fences make good neighbors.”
But here’s Frost’s reaction to his neighbor:
“Why do they make good neighbors?….
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.”
Fences and walls are hot topics, both locally and nationally. Like Frost, I’ve come to understand that they don’t make for good neighbors. So what does? Compassion. Understanding. Belonging. A place where you can go and be accepted, cared for, and loved.
When Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor,” he wasn’t installing a fence at the time