In my book, “The Secret of the Ring, ” I write about how amazing doors are. Few ever think about them. We build walls about us to keep us safe.

Then, of course, the simplest way to get through the wall is by going through a door. I think life would be more difficult if we had walls and no doors.

And so it is that we build walls for shelter from animals, thieves and weather. However, without the doors, we might not be able to enter or exit.

I am not an expert on doors, but I know outside doors should have some basic requirements. We should be able to secure, or lock it. Depending on the neighborhood, we may want it to be strong and difficult to enter without the key. We might even want bars on it.

Oddly some folks like windows in the door. That sort of confuses me. After all, glass is easily broken. Also, it doesn’t provide much privacy.

When younger, I was told to remember to close the door. In some cases it was to keep the flies and insects out. In other cases, it was to keep the warmth in. In still other cases, we left the doors wide open to let fresh air in.

Much is said about doors and windows in literature. Certainly, most of us have heard that when God closes a door, then, somewhere He opens a window.

I suppose in a way, it implies that we can go in and out windows too. That would be particularly true when escaping fire.

However, homes are not the only thing to have doors. Barns, storage sheds, planes all have doors. So do ships but when I was in the Marines, I was encouraged to call them hatches. In many cases, such doors are designed more for keeping things in.

To be sure, life would be more difficult without doors…or gates.

One piece of advice, especially about car doors. I was trying to close the car door for my wife as she pulled it firmly closed. That hurt.

Apparently, that is one thing those engineers got right. As much pain as it caused, there was no permanent problem.

Word to the wise. Don’t get your fingers between the door and the car. It was close to half an hour before the feeling returned to my fingers.

Would you believe she had the nerve to laugh about it.

Watch out for those doors or hatches, or windows or whatever you call them.

As an aside. The warning given to Scott in my my book…”Never open a door until you know who is on the other side.”