YOUR LAND, MY LAND, OUR LAND

Your land is more than the surface under your feet.

Go ahead and put ‘No Trespassing’ signs everywhere on a plot of dirt, but it’s still not enough.

Why? Because it’s not your land, or my land, but our land.

Here’s how I figured it out:

I own a family house that once held my multigenerational group including kids, parents, and grandparents.

I was the dad, the husband, the son in-law at the beginning.

Now I’m a grandparent. Everyone else moved on. I’ll move on some day, but not today.

So it’s my land because I live here and pay the bank for the privilege?

Whose land is it?

It may not be mine, but I’m getting closer to the day when it’s ‘only’ a property tax payment.

Then it’s mine all mine? I have my doubts, but it might be.

The Transient Nature Of Your Land And Mine

First you buy land and celebrate like a landowner.

You are the king of your castle. And you have plans, big plans.

Then you learn about building code, restrictions, HOAs, and more, so much more.

No one told you about the meth house in the neighborhood?

That explains middle of the night traffic.

The neighbor who keeps video watch on the neighborhood that includes recording your house?

And they share stills with a group who see your house?

Part of living in a civilized society is cooperation. The civilized part is understanding different people have different views of what cooperation means.

It may be my land, it may be your land, but does it also belong to drug mules and security fetishists?

Where’s the line?

Who Draws The Property Line?

Chances are good that property lines existed before it became your land.

Even the pioneers had property lines when they filed their homestead papers.

Some people have more property than they can keep track of efficiently.

So they hire a pro like Pivotal Property Management.

Or they make up their own rules as they go along.

And that’s okay if someone is basically harmless with no intent to harm.

Call them dreamers, the ‘if I had a million dollars I know what I’d so with it’ kind for people.

Problems pop up when that someone actually has a million dollars, a billion dollars, and decides their opinion is The Law, their truth is The Truth, and they attempt to punish those who disagree.

That’s when Woodie Guthrie’s guitar kills fascists. Or serves as a reminder.

Who Plays That Guitar Today

One man and his band is currently on a world tour filling up stadiums.

The same man could fill a coffee house in town with the same music with just his guitar.

Rich or poor, people who respect the land are American treasures.

They want us to feel what they feel, see what they see. And I’m here for it, though I’m not going to a Bruce show, or a Taylor Swift show.

There’s a world of difference between the two of them, but their similarities are strong.

Somehow we get hope for a better tomorrow from them.

Don’t you?

But don’t stop there. Look around your community for people who give you hope.

I know a local man doing the work with Picture Greater: Charlie Sandbo.

You will find him and his work this weekend in Sherwood’s Brews for the Birds Beer & Music Festival: A Benefit for the Friends.

Your Land

             G                           D
This land is your land, and this land is my land
         A                       D      D7
From California, to the New York Island
                 G                          D
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
A             A7               D
this land was made for you and me
 
[Verse]
 
         G                   D
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
       A                  D      D7
I saw above me an endless skyway
        G               D
I saw below me a golden valley
A             A7               D
This land was made for you and me
 
[Chorus]
 
             G                           D
This land is your land, and this land is my land
         A                       D       D7
From California, to the New York Island
                 G                          D
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
A             A7               D
this land was made for you and me
 
[Verse]
 
                G                            D
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
                 A                    D       D7
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
         G                    D
And all around me a voice was sounding
A             A7               D
This land was made for you and me
 
[Chorus]
 
             G                           D
This land is your land, and this land is my land
         A                       D      D7
From California, to the New York Island
                 G                          D
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
A             A7               D
this land was made for you and me
 
[Verse]
 
              G                D
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
                 A                          D       D7
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
            G                    D
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
A             A7               D
This land was made for you and me
 
[Chorus]
 
             G                           D
This land is your land, and this land is my land
         A                       D     D7
From California, to the New York Island
                 G                          D
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
A             A7               D
this land was made for you and me
 
[Verse]
 
         G                   D
As I was walkin'  -  I saw a sign there
                     A        D       D7
And that sign said - no tress passin'
           G                              D
But on the other side  .... it didn't say nothin!
    A             A7               D
Now that side was made for you and me!
 
[Chorus]
 
             G                           D
This land is your land, and this land is my land
         A                       D      D7
From California, to the New York Island
                 G                          D
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
A             A7               D
this land was made for you and me
 
[Verse]
 
                      G                           D
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
                A                 D      D7
Near the relief office - I see my people
             G                      D
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
   A                 A7               D
If this land's still made for you and me.
 
[Chorus]
 
             G                           D
This land is your land, and this land is my land
         A                       D       D7
From California, to the New York Island
                 G                          D
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
A             A7               D
this land was made for you and me  
 
[Outro]
 
A             A7               D
this land was made for you and me