The Fence

Around a certain country there were a series of hazards which, over the course of time, had been understood to be dangerous. There were cliffs, active and unstable volcanoes, crags with falling rocks, areas of parched desert prone to flash flood, streams filled with crocodiles, and dense jungles patrolled by carnivores. The people of the country knew the dangers, but periodically someone would be attacked by a shark or eaten by a grue.

The people began erecting fences all over and around this land, and posting signs on the fences declaring the consequences for breeching them. In some areas, the fence was to keep the danger out, while in others the people themselves were the danger.

Sometimes the fences didn't meet correctly on their edges, or raised other quality concerns. The people wisely appointed specialists to represent them in regard to the fences. There were Fence-Builders to make new fences as new conditions arose, and Fence-Keepers charged with inspecting the fences. The Fence-Keepers carried tools which they called Restraint and Ethics, which allowed them to work around and even outside the perimeter fence with minimal risk to themselves and others. Some of the Fence-Keepers came to be appointed Supreme Fence-Keepers. The Supreme Fence-Keepers soon declared that they had the final say in how the fence should be kept.

Now, most people knew where the dangers were, and where the perimeter fence was, but there were areas of danger inside the fence, and areas of safety outside it; a constant debate took place among the people of the land as to where the fences should be made tall or short, or where the perimeter should be moved out to enclose new areas thought now to be safe for a modern, well-educated people, or where it should be moved in to protect against areas now known to contain danger.

Some of the dangerous areas, such as the shark-infested waters of the ocean, had an allure for the people. They were willing to brave the danger, and over time the fence moved closer to the beach, then into the water, and into deeper water, until fully submerged. Signs were posted, but no one was quite sure where the fence actually was, for the Fence-Keepers kept moving it to satisfy the needs of their own technical requirements, which were sometimes not related to the primary mission of separating the people from danger. The fence was underwater and invisible in these areas, but the Fence-Keepers went right on arguing among themselves and changing its location to meet their own arcane criteria. The people decided where they could go in the water, sharks or not.

Special soundproof fences were built to keep the people from hearing one another speak an offense, which had the unforeseen side effect that the people could not hear each other at all.

Gradually, the Builders built more fences than the Keepers could keep, even with their advanced Restraint and finely-tuned Ethics. There were fences on the sidewalks, fences in the street, fences around churches and in the schools. Wherever the people went, the Builders had put a fence. The Keepers, Ethics and Restraint in hand, maintained them as best they could. With so many fences, it became difficult to tell which ones should be given priority; the Keepers just waited for the people to complain, and then argued among themselves a while.

Many of the Supreme Fence-Keepers had realized that they needed their Ethics much more than their Restraint. They set aside their Restraint, and began ordering that some fences be moved, torn down, or altered. They began taking the old fences, since there were so many that were used so little, and with judicious use of Ethics made entirely new fences. The people were just as happy with the Fence-Keepers' fences as with the Builders', even when the Keepers began using imported fence parts. To keep the people trusting the fences, the Builders allowed the Keepers to build, and then went back to counting.

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The Fence, part II

In Part I of our story, we happened on a certain country in which the people built fences to separate themselves from danger. The name of this land was Youdopia.

The specialists in charge of the fences had performed their duties superbly -- so well, in fact, that the Fence-Builders created more fences and of such intertwined delicacy that Fence-Keepers no longer could be satisfied with inspecting, adjusting, and repairing the fences. They had begun tearing down old ones and building new ones with parts from the old, as well as with parts imported from foreign lands and parts they created themselves with their own wonderful Ethics -- from whole cloth, as it were -- having set aside their former Restraint. We saw that the Builders welcomed this new type of Fence-Keeping, praising it to preserve the faith the people had placed in the fences. They eluded controversy if someone else built a fence.

But trouble was afoot in our happy land. In a far away country, one most of the Youdopians had only read about, another people had fences of their own. These fences were not compatible with any other kind. The leader of the foreign land, one Moe Anita-Nutjob, saw great things ahead for his brand of fence. So happy with his fence was he, and so attentive to the needs of his fellow man, that he insisted on every country using the kind he did. It was only fair.

Part of the allure of his type of fence was a united class of Fence-Makers. Rather than listen to the people in the creation and repair of fences, the Fence-Makers demanded the people use the ones that were made for them, or die. It was better for the Fence-Makers that way. These were the only fences that anyone would ever need, and would never need to be replaced, repaired, or altered.

But with so many fences and such division among the people of Youdopia, there was no way to build fences to protect the people when this enemy attacked. The people had become too accustomed to the easy safety of their many fences. They did not know anything but fences, and most had forgotten how to build for themselves.

They had also forgotten the post of Fence-Master. The Fence-Master appointed the Keepers, and approved the fences built by the Builders. In times past of great tumult, the Fence-Master had been able to make superb fences of short duration, swiftly creates unusual fences of terrible power. Some of the fences built by previous Fence-Masters had even been used against the Youdopians themselves. This Fence-Master rallied the people, and stood fast against the evil Moe Anita-Nutjob.

When the Fence-Master began making his fences against the enemies, the people rejoiced. Then, over time, some of the people began questioning the Fence-Master's workmanship. "This is just like the fences they built in the ocean!", they cried, and they began protesting and singing songs, chanting "No more Oceania!", and calling for the Fence-Master to be replaced for building his powerful fences on foreign soil.

Some of the more enlightened Keepers, in their wisdom and skill, decreed that the foreigners were really not foreign, because one fence is as good as another. They began making modifications to the Fence-Master's designs, removing as many as they could from use, in order that the fences follow the vital technical rules the Keepers had developed.

Finally, the people decided that the Fence-Builders allied with the Fence-Master should be replaced with others, those who remembered how things were before Moe Anita-Nutjob and his allies came. The new Builders would fix things so that the people could sing songs and march in protest in peace, with no worries about offending their enemies by building fences where a civilized people would not build. "Our fences will protect us," they said.

And Moe Anita-Nutjob smiled at his good fortune. His fences were designed just for the lands the new Builders would soon abandon. After that, he would be the only Fence-Master anyone would ever need.

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