THE PEOPLE "OVER THERE"

"ENJOY THE LAND BUT OWN IT NOT"  (THOREAU)---THE DREADFUL DREADFUL COST OF POSSESSION---(AND THE GLORIOUS ALTERNATIVE)

 Over there!!!---is a high priced land development.   People  paid big bucks---200 to 500 thoiusand  to enjoy a lakefront view from their home.

The same view that I enjoy from the window of my rig for about two dollars---yes--just two dollars. 

And these wonderful trails are just one mile away.

And the sunsets thrill me as much as the "People over there."

And here is the sad part----The "people over there" ---feel the need to close themselves off---from the rest of the world.  Here's the locked gate.  Frost's poem: Mending Wall came to mind.

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

That wants it down.

....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."

Naturally, I want to go there to see what this Shangralai can teach me.  And I managed to do so----rumbling 6 miles down a washboard road to a party at the community center.  I noticed many places for sale and chatted with some property owners.  I got the impression they feel trapped---by an ill considered vision of the good life. One told me that he had sunk so much money into his lot and house that he couldn't afford to escape the bitter winters. 

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:

  AAAhh dear readers---Which side of the lake do you choose?  Want to possess and be possessed by a house and land over there?  Want to pay the price and live in a gated community over there?--- Or  mingle with the masses over here?  The land over there serves  2 hundred---this land serves 2 thousand ---in a weekend.

A curious incident at the party is instructive:  As the music played, a spunky lady and I got up and danced.  The crowd broke into applause as we whirled---seemingly delighted at our boldness.   I asked myself if secluded communities breed timidity.