Not all who wander are lost!” wrote J. R. R. Tolkien. Yet, society urges folks to settle down, stay put, and fit in. The gray clouds drifting across the Veracruz sky above me look truly majestic, but drifters are gazed upon less fondly down here. When did humanity’s shift from hunting to planting become a moral imperative? I often feel more compelled to hunt for meaning than plant myself on the turf. 

An old cowboy song entitled “Cool Water” insisted that fence-building farmers are diabolic, whi...