Barbs and Thorns

Guest Post by Aya Katz

Barbs and thorns wrapped around a fence. Photo by Aya Katz.

Gazing out at the landscape, we see both natural and man-made things: The growing grass and the machines that mow it for the cows to graze on, the barbed wire fence, and the wild rose that grows right next to it. The wild primrose and last year’s blackberry bushes just happen to grow in the shelter of the fenceline, because that is the only spot that never gets mowed.

Look at the barbs in the barbed wire: they are a poor imitation of the thorns of the rose. But the rose, seeing that the poor defenseless fence needs help, lends its own sharp thorns to the task. So nature and man work together, because man is not a thing apart, but only one small part of nature.