(Friday Quick Takes)
Macho Men -- From a list of "tips for goose hunters" comes this fascinating gem today:
"If a forlorn mate of the goose you shot, comes back looking for the lifelong mate, don't let the other guys see your tears. This is not me, of course."
Of course. It's not the hunter who cries over the forlorn mate of a slain goose. Why should we expect those with knowledge about geese to connect that to any feeling, sense of moral conscience or sensitivity? Knowledge should, apparently only be used for destruction.
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The Last Paradise. -- Sometimes I ask myself if I am "obsessed" over the destruction of the geese? It is probably true that I am as obsessed with trying to protect and advocate for geese as my government and others are obsessed with killing them.
But, some might ask, "Billions of animals are killed and slaughtered every year. Why is this different?"
That is true. Animals are killed in fields, forests, on water, in the air, in slaughterhouses, laboratories and "shelters." But, in almost all cases, we don't personally know the animals.
That does not make the killings "right." It just makes them distant.
(It is difficult to stop the industries that rely on animal cruelty and destruction, though we can and should give up [and thus not financially support] the products of that destruction.)
In the case of the geese, they are rounded up and killed from city parks. Our own "backyards," so to speak.
One has to ask, "Where do we draw the lines on obscenity, cruelty, madness and massacres?"
I used to think that line was drawn in the peace and sanctuary of city parks. "This is the one place in the world where animals are free from the tyranny of humans."
That perception has since been proved wrong. Animals are not safe anywhere.
But, somewhere a line has to be drawn.
I draw that line on the last paradise of our city parks and the animals we have come to know and wrongly thought were "safe." If we cannot stop animal cruelty and destruction on our own door steps, then we cannot stop it anywhere.
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Things -- I don't own a cell phone, laptop, HD TV, Ipod, X-Box or a hundred pairs of shoes. I do own (and use) a 4-year-old, PC computer (with ten-year-old monitor), a regular TV, a Walkman and about 5 or 6 pairs of mostly sports shoes. I am not sure if this makes me simply "behind the times," really, really "old" or if I finally woke up one day and realized that "things" don't really matter much.
The geese taught me that.
Geese are so completely connected to and in tune with their environment, surroundings, life forces, natural order and their brethren.
We, on the other hand are seemingly connected to everything, but our environment, surroundings, life forces, natural order and brethren.
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"Bullying" -- A hot topic in the news these days because so many young people commit suicide over it.
Sometimes, when watching TV, I channel surf. Not because I believe something better to be on the other channels, but to escape the 30 to 60 second promos for violent movies or TV programs. Ax murders, shootings, stabbings, fist fights, explosions, car crashes. (And yet, we claim to "love and care about" other humans?)
Apparently, violence "sells" in the mass media.
But, then why do we question or wonder why we have violence and bullying in our schools?
Isn't that the "normal" way we live in America -- or, at least in the eyes of our children?
Isn't that the way we relate to nature and the environment that surrounds us?
Whatever we can't totally dominate and control or whatever gets in our way, we kill -- one way or the other.
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Death, life forces and "getting old." -- Among the things we try to "kill off" or at least deny and hold back, are the natural life forces of getting old and eventually dying. We exercise to a point of fanaticism, we endlessly diet and go to doctors. We take medications and vitamins, buy expensive face creams and when all those fail to yield the narcissistic and irrational desires sought, resort to Botox injections, implants, liposuction, and plastic surgeries.
When did life become an endless battle to deny its partners in life force -- aging and death?
"The brave man dies only once; the coward a thousand times."
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"Feed the Hungry" -- It seems a bit odd that in a nation that seems to be constantly fighting "fat," at the same time, almost 20% of the country's "children go to bed hungry every night."
Perhaps those people indulging in too many meals should donate some of those overabundant meals to the hungry. (Gluttony is after all, one of the "seven deadly sins.") Or, perhaps we should make better use of our lands to grow vegetables and crops as opposed to creating factories that torment billions of animals while feeding more than half our corn, grains and water supplies to them to later convert to "meat." Meat is actually a very expensive commodity -- especially when so many children and people are truly hungry.
Of course an argument could also be made to produce fewer babies if we cannot afford to feed them. At some point we need to seriously start thinking about controlling our own population as we "control and manage" animal populations that we claim are "overabundant."
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"Never Let Them See You Cry" -- Unlike the hunter quoted at the opening of this piece, I believe people should do more crying.
Tears are one of nature's forces that tells us something has gone wrong. Either something we are doing to others or something that is being done to us.
Tears are not something to run away from, attempt to hide or drown out in a sea of diversion and escape.
Should a hunter actually shed tears after shooting the mate of a devoted goose pair, that might seem to indicate someone actually plugged into feelings and moral consciousness.
Why is that considered a "bad" or "weak" thing?
Aren't comprehension of feelings and moral choice among those things that separate humans from animals?
When did feelings, awareness and moral consciousness become things to be hidden and ashamed of?
Pity the society bereft and bankrupt in these important life forces and qualities. It is to put us on a plane lower than the very animals we so disdain, dominate and slaughter.
The animals are at least aware and in tuned with what's going on around them and before them. -- PCA
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