DEPENDENCE ON OTHER LIVING THINGS

Picture sent by FaceBook friend Angelika Bien Joy.

I'm not a vegetarian.  I have to face facts.  We kill to eat.  Those neat styrofoam trays we buy in the supermarket contain meat.  And that meat once had eyes. 

I come from Pennsylvania farm country.  I have a passion from childhood to this day for animals.  And yet I eat meat. A paradox.  Perhaps.  I study the Bible, and from the first chapter, Genesis, we are instructed to name the animals and be their stewards.  We are to take care of all living things.   I don't take this lightly.

Thou shall  not kill.  And yet we kill millions of animals each year.  Some to eat; some in just plain abuse.  The abuse is NOT stewardship and the world had better learn the difference before the world turns on us- literally causing our own deaths.  I may not see it in my lifetime, but going on as we are with the wanton killing of animals be it through neglect or greed or ignorance, the human race is itself doomed to death.

I remember Tibetan monks, dedicated to not killing any living thing, who travelled to Texas to create a sand Mandala. Tibetan monks create a Mandala in Austin Texas

http://kutnews.org/post/tibetan-monks-make-sand-art-austin-city-hall#.TtEYyZXyMlg.email

During the long spiritual process, the monks wear masks and control their breathing so as not to disturb the sand Mandala.  It came time in the middle of the night that the monks were hungry.  The only place open at that hour was a McDonalds.  The Texans explained and apologized, knowing that the monks don't eat any living creature.  The monks explained that they would eat the MickyD's and be grateful for what Creation provided- stunning the Texan hosts.

So here's the thing.  We kill to eat.  In Pennsylvania, the slaughter of animals was done by hand. The animals to be slaughtered were led a few days before the slaughter to a holding pen, where they were fed and cared for and given a few days to calm down.  Release of chemicals in a stressed animal ruins the meat.  One by one the animals were led to a restraining pen.  An experienced person used a long and extremely sharp blade.  Sharp enough to cut your finger if touched.  One deep slice in the neck wide enough to sever the wind pipe and the carotid artery.  One slice, and the animal died in approximately 2 seconds.  Without a peep.  Then the animal was bled out in a bucket.  Pig blood to be made into Blutwurst.  No part of the animal was wasted.

And we prayed at the table where the deliciously prepared product of the sacrificed animal was eaten. God bless us for the food we are about to partake.  Bless this food to our use and us to Thy service. 

God gave us Truth and Wisdom, such as we have.  We have to face facts, be good stewards of the world, and be thankful for the bounty the Lord of Creation has provided for us.

MEN WITHOUT CHESTS



 “The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced.”

--Bahá'í teaching

Remember Ward Cleaver, Archie Bunker, Howard Cunningham?  Those were the Happy Days for Men.  They were in control; they knew who they were and what they were supposed to do.

These days, men don't have it easy.  It is said that the trouble for men was started by Rosie the Riveter.  Men came home from WWII and she wasn't home cooking dinner in her new dress and freshly ironed apron.  Two short generations ago after centuries of submission to male authority women have made a break for it. 

Today not only is the woman a college grad, she's looking after the house, she's meeting with the kids' teachers, she's a member of the town council or the library board,  or running for office. She's working out, she has a full time job and she often makes more money than her partner. What she can't do, or doesn't like to do like fixing a carburetor, she pays to have done. She has her own money and 51% of the nation's buying power. She's smart and mostly self sufficient; she knows who she is. She has her hair and nails done and she shops to look damn good all the while.

Meanwhile men have drifted off in two generations into what?  Ask a man what is expected of him, what his role is, and most haven't a clue.  Men are increasingly the butt of jokes as couch sitting, beer drinking, football watching sperm donating afterthoughts.  Women have their laughs at the expense of men.  Women can be sharply outspoken in their cruelty against men. 

All of this has happened in a very short period of time.  One generation or two.  Remember  your dad.  He knew exactly who he was and what he was placed on this earth to do. Mine did.  He kept the checkbook and all the money, and decided how it would be spent. What he said was law.  My mother protected and abetted his absolute authority.  She would whisper to us, Don't bother your dad with that right now. 

That isn't the norm these days.  Not that all women, girls especially, make the right choices with their new found power.  They pant after the likes of a Brittany Spears, or a Lady Gaga.  They often don't make good choices about sex, for instance.  Rosie has brought many girls to an open minefield of choice. 

And the boys, to become men, are stunned by all of this.  They are to be loving and caring, future diaper changers, but they had better not be too soft.  Women want their men loving, but strong and able to take charge.  This, when they have not been encouraged to take charge of anything much.  They often see-saw from macho man to withdrawn noncommittal.  Best choice is just not to get too involved. Take what you can and run.  And many women seem to want it that way. Looks rather like the 50 year marriage is a thing of the past, fading into the mists of myth.  

Should a man marry, many say they can do almost nothing to please.  Too soft, and they're criticized for being a wimp.  Too take charge, and they are criticized for being control freaks.  Some men take up hobbies that require them to be out of the house for long periods of time and which their female partners are not likely to want to share: target shooting or hunting big game, racing cars, building structures like barns, garages, complicated sound systems, media systems, outfitting new boats, building fences.  That last may be a metaphor for protection from the onslaught of expectation they can never hope to satisfy.

Girlfriends:  Let's try to understand the situation. All of us: Let's try to hear each other better.  Let's try for balance.

"In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate
and bid the geldings be fruitful."
- C S Lewis - Abolition of Man.