Gratitude Day 136: Barb Wire My first recollection of Barb Wire was when I was five and a half years old living in Kentucky but visiting my cousins in Ohio. They lived across the street from a horse pasture. We would walk right up to the fence with our carrots and cubes of sugar and the giant animals would come lumbering over to us stretching their long necks sniffing and snorting, lips trembling, seeking out their treats. It was both fun and fearful my mother and aunt warning us to keep out hands absolutely flat as we offered up the delicacies lest our fingers be bitten off ending up in the belly of the beast. The lips and noses of the horses were the softest thing I had ever felt...peppered with stiff bristly whiskers that poked my hand not unpleasantly but interrupting the velvety softness of their faces. When we ran out of goodies the horses would turn away nipping and kicking playfully with each other in mock battle, not a care in the world. I would notice tufts of hair they let behind where they pressed up against the barbs to gobble up our mid-day snacks. Years later when I would go hunting or fishing with my dad there were always barb wire fences and gates that wed come across. The gates we would pull up pass through and carefully replace. The unwritten rule of gates was to make sure they were securely replaced ensuring any livestock on the land would not escape into the neighboring property or dangerous areas. When there was no gate one of us would pull the upper strand of barb wire with our hands while gingerly stepping on the middle strand to create a pass through. The older rusty fences were easy but the new taught silver strands were always more challenging to navigate. When we moved into our house on Country Squire Lane we christened the fence at the back of our yard The horses fence. Many days walking home from school or venturing into the woods behind our property I would duck under and pass through that fence for another of many adventures. It was always a treat when our back yard neighbors horses would wander down exploring the edge of their domain when their usual place to roam was up in their pasture. Funny how barb wire has always meant comfort, safety, adventure and fun to me. I am sure that to many in the world barb wire represents a completely different experience. One friend I had in high school was a motocross maniac he loved racing his motorcycle through the woods and trails. One day he over shot a turn and instinctively threw his arm up just in time to prevent a barb wire fence from decapitating him, although it nearly severed his arm off. He regained 90% of his arm motion but his thoughts of barb wire Im sure are of a brush with death. To many others barb wire represents incarceration being held behind a barb wire matrix denying freedom. Impenetrable barb wire fences keeping people in or out of a country or area where they desperately long to be or escape from. The labyrinth of barb wire strung across the beach in Normandy tangling soldiers in a spider web of vulnerability and certain death. Miles and miles of fence to be patrolled and repaired confirming the safety of exotic animals or livestock within. Barb wire like everything in life boils down to perception. Experience, relationship, association and interaction help create the emotional connection or perception we have to the object, person or moment at hand. It may stay the same or change in an instant. I can only hope that my future encounters with barb wire will preserve and protect the memories of the past. with Lisa Campbell McCorkle
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 06:06:48 +0000
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