What Set Him Off

There is a local news item about a man that owned a piece of real estate and mowed down the trees and invited homeless people to live there with a few small signs. This outraged a nearby subdivision, a golf community of 'over 55ers'. The president of the community complained to the city, phone calls, and finally the newspaper goes out and gets photos and the story. Nobody seemed to have a clue why the man suddenly did this, but at the end of the article there was something about his land not having any access to a road but to the private road maintained by the community. Still, nobody had spoken with the man, no one knew why in the world he would do such a thing.
I laughed out loud at the words that were not written, thinking of the snobs in the golfing community thinking they had this guy over a barrel because he had no access, never thinking he would go to the extreme of setting up a homeless camp in their front yard. There is no bad guy in this story, just a struggle between the rock and the hard place. I laugh because I am familiar with the people who think that if they command it, it is done. If things don't go their way, well then things had better change. Sooner or later these people finally learn. The illusion was that the president of the golfing community was in control. Maybe he was a politician before he retired, maybe he was a big boss in a factory. Now, he is learning to contend with the fading thoughts of being in power. At least in this case, a homeless guy got a job watching the property.