What is America’s obsession with fences?

Everywhere I go. Fences. Fences. Fences. What is our country’s obsession with fences?

Some fences I very much appreciate. Having worked at the CIA for 13 years, we had several fences around the perimeter of the headquarters compound in Langley, Virginia. Why? Having someone with unauthorized access could be extremely dangerous to our country’s national security. You also don’t want people roaming freely around airport runways, or electricity generation stations, or some high-speed rail networks, or highways. I can understand and appreciate those fences. They serve a purpose for the community.

I also appreciate fences that protect personal property, like your home/backyard. They provide privacy, safety and security for you, your family and your property. Those also make sense.

But the United States is littered with random fences that serve absolutely no purpose. And they drive me a little nutty.

For example, when I walk my children to school, we walk through this alley. To the left are fences protecting the backyards of row house owners. But the right side is this fence.

As you can see, many of the fence posts are missing or broken. There are large gaps in the fence line that people can easily walk through. What’s the purpose of this fence? To ensure…what? That people don’t walk through? All you have to do is walk to where the fence ends to get from the alley to the parking lot behind the apartment building. It doesn’t actually restrict access, it just restricts flow. Then, in the back of the picture, by the row of cars, you can see the next fence line.

What’s the purpose of this fence? To keep people away from the back of the credit union/CrossFit building? What’s the purpose of the fence between the parking lots? God forbid a car goes from one to another…or even worse, a pedestrian! What if a pedestrian could just…wait for it…walk around the fence to get in? Because that’s exactly what happens.

In the end, these fences just become demarcation lines of wasted natural resources. A lot of trees were cut down to create these pointless fences. And for what reason?

But it’s not just these silly wood fences that litter or neighborhoods and towns, it’s even more egregious and ridiculous fences in retail spaces, like this one.

I really like Bob & Edith’s diner. While I have yet to eat at Arlington Kabob, I’m excited to do that. Why is this chain link fence here, severing the two parking lots? Is it really such a problem that this line needs to be drawn? I wish I could have been in the meeting where one (or both) property owners said, “Yes, we need to install a 20-foot fence here to keep other cars out!”

When you’ve been overseas as much as I have, you realize that the rest of the world doesn’t have these fences all over the place. In America, I imagine we do it for “privacy” reasons but they never really work like that. They just turn into annoying blockages for what would otherwise be more open spaces that aren’t eyesores.