The Use of Ownership

Ownership by use--many Romany groups traditionally had/have this view. As the fifth child of six, I grew up with a similar idea. This bicycle is mine because I am currently using it. This bed is mine because I am currently sleeping in it. This toy is mine because I am and have been playing with it. I was sometimes (unpleasantly) surprised when an older sibling returned home and claimed the thing I had been using for ten years was their own personal property because this thing had originally--perhaps even before I was born--been specifically given to them.
That attitude describes ownership by deed or title. This doll belongs to me, personally, because I bought and paid for it (see, here's the receipt) or because it was given to me, and me alone, on my 8th birthday (see, here's the gift card).  Even if I no longer have any use for that doll, it is exclusively mine. It is my right to determine who has access to that doll and what becomes of it.
The same goes for, say, scissors. Jan Yoors* describes an incident where some of his Romany traveling companions need haircuts but have no scissors. They borrow a pair from a local farmer. When they are done using the scissors, Jan (who is not Romany) insists the scissors be returned. Even though the farmer had no current use for them, the scissors belonged to him.
Change the lens and view the farmer's property in the light of ownership by use. The farmer has dozens of chickens. He cannot use them all. Your children are hungry. They could use one chicken. Who should own that chicken?
Change the lens again. What if you believed the chicken and the scissors and the doll and the bed belonged to Someone else who was just letting you look after it all? Maybe then you would be like my grandmother who took the traveling Romany woman into her pantry and freely shared jars of peaches and vegetables. No one ever stole chickens from their farm.


*In the 1930's a very young Jan Yoors traveled off and on with a group of Lovari Romany. He wrote of his experiences and observations in The Gypsies.