Who has control over a parcel of land? Who gets to say what is built there, who can live there, what kind of business can operate there?
Is it the person who has a piece of paper claiming legal title to the land? Is it the community, representing the interests of all people in the area? Or is it the government, whose power of eminent domain usurps both the owner and the community?
Control of the land belongs to its rightful owner. And the owner is none of the above.
The owner of the land is God.
God, or Yahweh, or Allah, or the Great Spirit, or whatever we choose to call Him, is the sole and rightful heir to all things in the universe. This is so because He created them all.
We are allowed to tend His garden for the brief time we are present on earth. And we succeed, in greater or lesser extent, to the degree we are willing to follow Him. We are not given ownership, but rather stewardship over creation. Our charter is to care for and protect the living creatures, animal as well as plant, under our domain.
Most of us pretend that God doesn’t exist—except on Sunday mornings, of course, when we troop dutifully off to worship. But, admit it, all that nonsense about “doing unto others” just doesn’t cut it in these modern times. Sure, we do unto others—before they do unto us! Sorry, but it’s a tough world out there. I’m just trying to get my share of what’s rightfully mine.
Ah, there’s that word: rights. Where’s my rights? What about my rights? It’s my God-given right! Officer, read him his rights!
Our society is intensely focused on rights, and all their attendant privileges. We are acutely aware of when those rights are infringed, and we will not hesitate to retain the best lawyers money can buy to make sure those rights are studiously enforced at all times. Million-dollar lawsuits are common. On May 7, an Alabama jury awarded $581 million to a family that claimed they were overcharged $1,200 for two satellite dishes.
But what is almost always forgotten these days is that rights are only one side of the coin. With rights come responsibilities. A right is predicated on the bearers’ ability to carry out its attendant responsibilities. If that obligation is not fulfilled, the right becomes null and void.
In our concern over rights, we have let the pendulum swing too far in a permissive direction. First Amendment rights give us the ability to distribute child pornography over the Internet. Second Amendment rights lead to almost weekly episodes of copycat killers emulating their fallen heroes at Columbine High School.
Yes, we are the land of the free and the brave. And yes, the Constitution—including its Amendments—is a wise and marvelous document. Countries around the world have used it as a model when converting from repressive regimes into representative democracies. However, the Constitution was written at a time when we had just cast off the shackles of British rule. Those were heady times, and the world seemed without limit.
Now, of course, the limits have become all too apparent. Churches vie with neighborhoods, airboat owners vie with nature lovers, and racetrack fans search in vain for a place to call their own. Meanwhile, the number of bad-air days hits a record high, and cell towers spring up like weeds from every hilltop. Like obscene Jack-in-the-Boxes, porn shops close down and then pop right back up again. Urban sprawl degenerates into urban blight: last year, more mobile homes than single-family homes were added to Buncombe County.
So how do we adjudicate this mess? Simple: by remembering who is the rightful owner of the land. It is only by His grace that we walk this earth, and we are merely visitors here. He has given us His greatest commandment, which is to love thy neighbor as thyself.
Traditional Native Americans have a curiously liberal interpretation of the word ‘neighbor’. They believe their neighbors to be not only the people who live next door, but the people in other tribes, and the people with sickly pale skin who arrive in boats from the sea. Even stranger, they believe their neighbors include the otter in the river, the nighthawk in the sky, and the bear in the woods. They honor, respect, and cherish all of these neighbors. And they do it not out of a sense of duty, but because it is who they are. They lead lives of reverence and worship, striving in all things to understand the wisdom of the Great Spirit.
Can you imagine a real-estate developer earnestly trying to follow the wishes of the community in his proposed development? Even more ludicrous, what would you give to see him crawling around in the grass, attempting to sell his plan to a seven foot long Eastern Kingsnake?
If that ever happened, then maybe the pendulum will have swung too far the other way. But we have to start somewhere. So next time you start asserting your rights, remember that those rights have responsibilities. And when you exercise those rights, try to at least think about how it will affect your neighbors. All of them.