Fences

The astute religious writer G. K. Chesterton made the observation that one should “never take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.”  Another great thinker, Alexander Pope, put it this way: “Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside.” 

These are not just clever sayings, but illustrate the truth that there are some foundations, some standards, some foundational principles, some basic qualities of character that are firmly fixed, and fixed for a reason, and are dismantled only at our peril.

 

Such values and virtues as honesty, kindness, morality, respect for law, the value of work, charity—such things do not go out of force even if, with some, they seem to go out of fashion.  It is so easy to tear down, so easy to reject, so easy to discredit, but the commandments are still there, and the consequences will still come to pass.

 

If we tamper irresponsibly with the basic laws of life, we shall find to our sorrow why the fence was put up in the first place.  Don’t be among the people who tend to remove time-honored safeguards, the reasons for which they do not know and do not make the effort to find out.

 

There are, among other things, decency and good taste to consider, but in our time they have been, alas, among the first to go.

But be warned:  the strongest fence, Divine judgment, will not be dismantled.  It is coming and will yet serve its purpose in the life of every person.