Security Villages versus Gated Estates in South Africa

Feb. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- I once had a colleague stating philosophically that all men kiss their women in their own manner. What did Kallie mean by that? Most likely that we humans are involved in this world in our own subjective manner. We listen to the rhythm of the biased drummer in our own psyche and behave accordingly.

Now, why would some people prefer to call a walled community with a gate at the entrance, inhabitants of a Security Village and others preferring to point to Gated Estates? Some would even propose that we use the term Security Estates.

(New information on security estates in Cape Town, South Africa, such as assessing the sale prices of property in security villages can be found at http://securityvillages.co.za/security-villages-cape-town.php)

It has something to do with how we see ourselves and perhaps even with the scale of our honesty.

A Security Village brings up the image of a community living in an earthy and almost rural manner behind walls with a gate that regulate entries and exits. There is a quiet whisper in the name dreaming of a community of people living and caring for all its inhabitants and guarding their safety. That is basically what the term Security Village wants to express.

A Gated Estate brings another facet to the fore. It proposes that people living in the compound of its walls want to see themselves rather as individuals living in safety but with the focus on their own private lifestyle. Often the emphasis would be on luxury as the owners of houses in Gated Estates normally have superior financial means.

Yes, it is the 21st century. We are not living near the throbbing earth anymore. Most of us do not go out to farm the land in the mornings anymore. In the mornings we get in our cars and we drive off to work and take the kids to school. In the afternoons we get back from our daily toils, switch  the TV on and pour ourselves a glass of wine or whiskey. Then we sink into the armchair and relax. We let the world go away and linger in a personal world, taking stock of the unfolding of one’s ‘small world’.

Yes, perhaps the term Security Village has a romantic ring to its essence. We cannot get back to pre industrial times. We have to face up and endure the winds of a post industrial world now. The times are now more than modern. The times are now even more than post modern. It lacks a definitive term, but the people whirling around are still people. Are still very human.

We are not robots and we are not avatars. We need to be humane and we will find the soul searching for just that when we scratch away the metallic paint from our skins.
We may live in gated estates, emphasizing subtle security and even opulence, but when we look into our souls, we yearn to be part of a secure village where humans know the  others’ names and needs.

In the end my vote will go to the emphasis on Security Villages rather than Gated Estates. An individual lifestyle within the borders of a walled community, striving to remain part of humanity and to be compassionate in a world overheated on the surface and too often ice cold at heart.

(New information on security estates in Cape Town, South Africa, such as assessing the sale prices of property in security villages can be found at http://securityvillages.co.za/properties-for-sale-securit...)

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Wim van der Walt of http://www.securityvillages.co.za offers lots of information on specific security villages in South Africa.