Thread by @Stonekettle

Go ahead. I hope you like dogs.

Also, because of people like you, Florida is a Stand Your Ground state.

Why do I mention it?

No reason. But obviously people like you don't much believe in walls either.

I want to follow up with something here:

Now, obviously I was being flippant to make a point in my response the MAGA Wall Guy up above, but the scenario he outlined happened to me two days ago.

That's right.

2/

My property here in Florida is fairly large. A number of acres. Part of it thickly wooded. Zoned for horses. Farmland and forest.

I live at the end of an old development, in a corner, two roads dead end on either side of my property.

I stepped of my office and...

3/

...and through the rain I saw a vehicle parked at the end of the road that runs in front of my office. Nobody in it. Given that I own the property on either side, there would be no place for the driver to go, except back down the road on foot OR onto my property.

4/

So I walked around my office and looked towards the back acreage and sure enough. Two people, walking down the forest line on my property.

Now, I own guns. And the aforementioned dogs. And I daily get death threats.

It never occurred to me to get either.

5/

Hello! I shouted through the rain, and began to walk in that direction. Armed with my empty coffee cup.

They shouted something in return, but I couldn't make it out, the rain was coming down pretty hard and my hearing is damaged.

So I kept walking.

6/

These people were now more than an acre onto my property.

What did they want?

It's the South. The poor South. Crime in this town is, well, let's say the local news is ... entertaining for want of a better word.

Still, a coffee cup seemed sufficient protection.

7/

The rain parted and I realized that I was approaching two young girls. Teens, one of them anyway. The other more a but younger. What do they call it? Tween? That.

Upset. Crying. Clearly something was wrong.

8/

And now they were being confronted by a strange man, a much older adult, in a forest, on somebody else's property.

You know what it was?

Can you guess?

9/

A lost dog.

Why, what did you think it might be? A fucking invasion? Two girls looking for a lost dog. I didn't know them but they were distant neighbors from the other side of the woods.

What I do?

Helped them look, of course. Because that what decent people do.

10/

The guy that started this threat, what if I just climb over the fence into your back yard? Huh?

Well, I'd ask you if you needed help. Because that's what decent people do. That's how communities are supposed to work. That's what neighbors are for.

What did you THINK?

11/

What the fuck did you think? That I'd just start shooting? Call the police? Start a fight?

Yeah, maybe it would have come to that. But you ask first. You help people when they need and so what they walked through my woods? So what? It's just trees, man.

12/

You see people in need and you see what? Invasion? Criminals? Enemies? MINE!

Or, do you see people?

You know what happens if you climb over my fence and meet my dogs? Slobber. That's what. They LIKE people. Because they're dogs, not assholes.

13/

You always see enemies, you're always afraid, you'll always be at war.

You always see potential neighbors, you'll always find community.

The world is very much what you make of it. So make of it what you will.

14/14

Addendum: The number of typos in this thread are why I rarely do live threads. Please to ignore. I know I need a proofreader, I don't care.