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.