The Edge and the Center

by Dwayne Phillips

The edge is that area between the center of two places. Things are different at the edge. Try to remember the difference.

I recently spent a few of strenuous days cleaning a fence row. A fence row comprises the ground a couple feet each side of a fence. In my case, the fence separated a lawn from a patch of woods.

There is brush, weeds, and overgrown weeds in a fence row. It is quite difficult to clear all this — especially at my age with the limited set of tools I had.

Brush doesn’t grow in the woods. There isn’t enough sunlight reaching the ground for that type of growth.

Brush doesn’t grow in the lawn. You mow the lawn regularly with a lawn mower and the brush doesn’t have a chance to take root and grow.

Brush grows in the edge — not in the center of either side.

The edge is not like the center. Things are different there. Lessons from the edge should not be applied to the center. I find it wise to know when I am at the center and when I am at the edge. The edge is not like the center. Things are different there. Lessons from the edge should not be applied to the center.