Today is a Remarkable Day:
American inventor Joseph Farwell Glidden patented the first commercially successful barbed wire. If you want to see examples of that, I recommend a drive south to north in Texas: barbed wire everywhere, protecting who knows what from who knows whom.
We made that trip when Tom left the army forty-eight years ago. We made the trip home to New York in a Ford Econoline van, loaded with our kids and our stuff.
I was driving, with my fresh American Drivers' Licence. The moon was very full and bright over Texas. I noticed the barbed wire running alongside the road and wondered where the dangerous bulls and wild horses were. Miles and miles of barbed wire. I had a strange feeling right then. Why all that barbed wire? I should have paid attention then, but I was more fascinated by the huge yellow moon, And I could not fathom what Texas was protecting. I know the answer now. And it bothers me.
What was Texas protecting?
Still a mystery to me!