Last night I heard the Chairman Emeritus of First American Title Company speak (actually, it’s “The First American Companies” or something, but I think everyone knows them as a Title Co.).

He’s like 118 years old, but he was funny and interesting … and (not surprisingly somehow) a Kennedy.

It was in that cool First American building right off the 55 freeway in Santa Ana (California, for you non-local readers). There was tons of history and documents in the building. What surprised me was how much of an effect on that company has had on the history of this county. For being something we pretty much NEVER think about, the fact that we know the boundaries of our land (and someone guarantees that) is what makes real estate ownership possible, and that’s what makes our lifestyle and economy possible. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it all.

Last year I was fortunate enough to be talking with the VP of Honduras, and he was saying that one of their countries greatest challenges right now is establishing a clean title system.

It all gets back to what a fragile and complicated structure our society rests upon … without real estate rights, none of us would have homes that we didn’t have to fight for … and without all of these complicated systems and companies to hold it all together, it all would fall apart. Kind of makes me wonder what kind of things we could see during our lifetimes … the Great Depression II, the Black Plague II, none of these possibilities are as remote as we’d like to think, and society wouldn’t necessarily hold together too well during such a crisis.

(Hope you enjoyed today’s happy, peaceful thought.)