Results

One of the unique traits that makes humans unique, different from animals, is our ability to use our skills and talents to shape material things to reflect our individuality - and when we do this, we create property. Material things in and of themselves are not property; they become property only when humans creatively find ways to use them productively. An example is a sticky, black, smelly substance that was nothing but a nuisance until humans developed technology for refining it - then, suddenly, oil became a source for wealth. Seen in this light, the defense of the right to property is not a defense of material things per se, but rather of the dignity of human creativity, ingenuity, and inventiveness.
Charles Colson
How Now Shall We Live (p 385), Tyndale Publishers, 1999