We have had the joy of having a piece of untouched land between our lot and the folks next door. When we bought our home we were told there would never be a way for anyone to use that land. So we would not have any type of development there. It seems never was not quite the right word. A developer, known for his less then ethical building methods purchased the land and has been working away at getting various permits that will allow him to use that lot of land for a well to service a number of other lots he plans to put houses on.

I don’t like the idea, and it does sound like his path for permits is a bit questionable. However, I also find myself not wanting to get into an ugly battle with him. Our other neighbor is much more invested in fighting on every front.

Yes, I get fired up when I think he might be doing something that will cause unnecessary damage and take out too many trees. I wish he would listen or show some interest in responding to our questions. Still, I can not imagine that our efforts are doing anything other than making him more secretive and determined.

I have had days of getting right into the fight, watching the back alley and asking any truck parked to show me permits. So far the folks I’ve been talking to aren’t related to him. In the past few days, though, it’s become clear he’s making his move. There are dig marks on the alley and on the road below. There have been folks out taking pictures and our neighbor has been calling every official trying to get someone to stop the process.

Indeed it would be nice to at least have this stopped through the winter. It does not seem like a very good idea to start digging right when the weather is freezing and most digging is stopped. Again one has to wonder how this guy gets his permission.

This may sound weak, but I am inclined at this point to stop fighting. We offered to buy the lot. We spoke to the officials and rallied the neighborhood and he has found ways around everything. I don’t plan to park myself in the alley and live angry. Yes, I have tried to work with the elements and bring on a deep freeze, but it looks like this lot is going to become a well and that digging will occur all around us. I can just hope that the guys digging care enough to do it right.

It’s tough understanding how someone can manage to do something that seems so wrong so often with so much support. I guess I just don’t understand how we got to the point where building is so much more important than taking care of the land or the people already living there. But clearly this isn’t just one crazy guy. Even I know I have some part in a system that has made it okay to advance, grow and develop without really noticing the consequences.

I call it Yang vs Yin. Yang is the energy of action – advancing, developing, shaping and moving ahead. The Yin is passive energy – quiet, still and intuitive. In eastern philosophy the recommended path is to find balance. It seems in our western world that balance has been lost.

Today I can see the cost firsthand and really this is a very small insignificant piece. So I don’t plan to fight the builder, instead I want to take a closer look at my own life and figure out where it is I may be advancing and developing without regard to the world around me and really think about if that fits for me. I have no doubt there are places in my own life where I have stopped listening and just done what I thought was okay. Somehow that seems like the best way to ‘fight back’. Use Yin to counter the Yang. May be I’ll find some balance.