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The Missing Gates
North Miami Beach, FL June 7, 2001 Aaron
H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then, Opinions pro or con are welcome.
THE MISSING GATES
No, Bill Gates is not missing. I had this thought about city gates. You
know, cities are no longer provided with gates. The ancient practice of
walling in a city and then having to erect gates that can open and close has
gone in the same way homes and apartments no longer have outhouses out back.
Times have changed and city gates no longer seem to be needed or are the
chief attraction in walls that brought civilization to empty spaces.
Among the things that are missing in our lives along with city gates is the
erasure of lines between city and farm. This is caused by the change from
an agricultural society where the farm was a keystone to a way of life to an
urban image. The "farm" most of us think about has been swallowed up by
"Agribusinesses" that ape the monopolistic business firms that do not
produce but get bigger by swallowing up small entrepreneurs.
In fact, the megalopolis trend has produced huge swaths of city lights that
bring north and south together as they have never been before. Reports say
that there are Mexican suburbs in and about New York City as this is being
written.
The only problem that the "Euro", the attempt to match the dollar, has is
the language barrier between the old national divisions on the continent.
There is no common language among all the countries that were the Western
world's biggest need. The international language in Roman times was Latin.
In the 18th and 19th Centuries it was French. Diplomacy requires some
common speech so in our time English, following the supremacy of American
military might and economic colonialism, has with the computer, become the
Lingua Franca.
When we moved to Florida we discovered the preference for little gated
communities. Gates can keep people out or lock them in. Gates are barriers
and ways in and out of "boxes" we put ourselves in. When the boxes are open
and gates are eliminated the freedom to move about is intoxicating and
fearsome. What do you say to that?
Carol's Evaluation: 9 out of 10.
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