The young kids who moved in down the road just posted their property. Redneck kids. Energetic. But far, far away from my value system. You see, I believe that deep within our DNA is the longing to Roam. We have a vestigial instinct left to walk and wander. Cro Magnon has been around for forty thousand years. During the first thirty thousand years of that we exclusively roamed about. We didn't settle down in one place until about 15,000 years ago. For the three million years before that, our upright walking cousins roamed about.
Walking taps into that instinct. It is as ingrained in us (repressed by television, industrialism and --dare I say it--capitalism) as seeking out a mate. When we walk, we declare our camaraderie with our animal past. We need to do that. There are so very few areas left that we just get to be a creature in the environment. Walking should remind us that we are creatures. Equal (and not superior to) all other creatures.
So I am an advocate of the "Right to Roam". Many European countries have laws to protect such a right. I've started a group on FACEBOOK to explore these issues. Take a look at it here. If the link doesn't work, the group is called: Walkers Unite! The Right to Roam. Feel free to join it, if you have a FACEBOOK account. Thanks!
2 comments:
I'm a great believer in trespassing and do it all the time. Most people who post their land don't care if a walker passes through, leaving nothing but footprints. They just don't want four-wheelers tearing up their woods or partiers strewing their empties or drunken hunters shooting their dogs. But its true my hackles go up when I see a "Posted" sign. Makes me want to go out of my way to intrude on their property. And those signs are ugly, despoiling the landscape.
But maybe your neighbors are growing pot or something. In which case, even your footprints would freak them out. (Unless you're a customer.)
Woodswalker...I couldn't agree with you more! We are on the same page here. I will admit to tearing down a No Trespassing sign now and then. A beautification processs, in my view.
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