Friday, May 14, 2010

Fighting for the Principles of Motherhood


Two startling images of "Mother Nature:" above, the image of Mother Nature growing in a tree's trunk. Below "Wounded Mother Nature," in this case, the picture is worth infinite words.
The world condition at first rendered me speechless, wordless, tired and sad this morning. I felt as "Wounded Mother Nature" appears - hanging on by a thread, exhausted, defeated.
But as I always do, I began thinking. I have during my life been saved from despair many times by brain power - both mine and the brain power of a precious few who I've been blessed to encounter along life's winding road.
As the course of my life has wound, so has and does my train of thought. There's little chance that I'll ever conform to "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line" school where thought is concerned.
The "Keep It Simple Stupid" of journalism was one of my greatest challenges - a seemingly insurmountable, daunting, frustrating Mount Everest on the landscape of my world.
"KISS," was a principle I learned to surrender to, with great difficulty, sweat and tears, along with the patience of my teachers (red pens at the ready,) for the sake of earning the right to call myself a journalist.
So you'll understand when I next state that today's writing-inspiration came by way of the new black cat family living in our garage.
Our house sits atop a professional garage - bays, lifts and the works.
My S.O. spends a lot of time down there, as he runs a high-end used car dealership. He's an able-enough mechanic to service customer's cars to a limited but useful extent.
The S.O. considers himself quite the beast master when it comes to animals. And indeed, every pet we've had has worshipped the very ground he walks on. But as a kid, I don't think he had much experience with pets, beyond a dog that was killed by a car early on in its and his life.
Unfortunately, that equates to him not realizing the really huge potential for problems and the basic responsibilities that come with any pet.
I won't go into the details, but there have been several instances in which I found myself proclaiming, with no joy and with much frustration "I told you so," "Animals are a huge responsibility," "You don't know what it means to be a responsible pet owner," and the like.
He's learning, however slowly and stubbornly. For instance, our house cats, whom we refer to as "the kids," were spayed and neutered early on and are kept indoors - my doing, my rules.
The S.O. decided about a year ago that he needed companionship and mouse-control down in the garage. I warned him against "garage cats." I told him spaying and neutering would be his responsibility, and that it would surely be a race against time. I told him that he couldn't train cats to stay inside a structure with an open door.
He insisted that he could train his kitties to stay indoors, with a door open (right!). Well, he couldn't train the new kids to stay indoors, and had to learn to deal with cats who have had a taste of freedom rushing the door to escape. As the weather became cold, the kitties relented, and became happy garage dwellers. They both enjoy finding a way into any vehicle parked in the garage. The two felines camp out in style whenever they can manage it, in Land Rovers, BMW's, Mercedes and the like.
And on Mother's Day, they became parents on the floor board of a pretty white Mercedes.
S.O. hadn't been talking about the kitties as he usually does. I inquired as to their well-being several times. Imagine my surprise (and OK, delight) when S.O. announced that "It really is Mother's Day downstairs."
Yes, I'm disappointed and upset that we've contributed more potentially unwanted kittens to the world. NO, I don't need the added responsibility of having EVERYONE spayed and neutered (or the added expense), but I'll manage somehow.
The point is, seeing those little kittens being loved and cared for so diligently by their young mother and father brought to the forefront of my mind, again, just what principles Mother's Day was founded on.
Mother's Day wasn't founded for the benefit of the florist or greeting card industries. It was founded because a mother who lived during the Civil-War era wanted to lessen infant mortality in her community. That same mother later and again used the phrase "Mother's Day," when she organized a reunion event for soldiers of the Union and Confederacy, the brothers, friends and neighbors who were called to fight against each other during our Nation's Civil War.
During the same era, another mother organized a "Mother's Day of Peace," to recognize that war is an unnecessary evil, and that mothers have a sacred right to protect the lives of their children. The daughter of the first mother mentioned worked for the official sanctification of the modern Mother's Day, and lived to regret - and publicly speak out against- the commercial exploitation of the day.
This recollection led me to thoughts of the exploitation of the supreme and most important mother to all of humanity - Mother Earth - and one of the latest and most horrific crimes against her.
Today, the President spoke out against the major players in the April 20 (coincidentally, Hitler's Birthday) and ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
At first stating the obvious, that the system for preventing such accidents has "failed badly," Obama went on to ridicule the disgusting (my opinion) display, as he termed it the "blame game," that went on between oil company executives at Senate hearings this week.
Like spoiled, bratty little children who needed a time out and dare I suggest, a spanking, (my opinion), executives from BP, Transoceans and HALLIBURTON (takin' bribes and living in luxury in Kuwait, stealin' government millions related to FEEDING OUR TROOPS, "DICK" Cheney, need I say more - oops, excuse me, I just threw up a little in my mouth) blamed and ridiculed one another regarding the oil spill.
Why do we allow these greedy pigs to insult our intelligence, waste OUR time and money at hearings and DESTROY OUR PLANET, specifically one of the most beautiful and unique areas of our world?
Obama called the hearings "A ridiculous spectacle ," adding, "The American people could not have been impressed with that display and I certainly wasn't."
The President promised to abolish the "cozy relationship" between oil executives and federal regulators. Let's hope that he is successful. There will be plenty of talk-radio and tea-party nay-saying for every corrective measure Obama moves to make.
As citizens, let us, that's you and me, stop buying into the bull shit.
Let's stop allowing these greedy tyrants the time and attention and honor of spewing their greed-driven philosophies within the hallowed halls of our great Nation. These pigs are making fools of us and of our government and of our Nation every time they open their filthy mouths in public. Behind closed doors, be sure they are laughing all the way to their off-shore accounts. Be sure they would walk over your dead body and the dead bodies of every "average" American to get to said accounts, or just simply to cross the street.
Have the nerve to speak out against the exploitation of "We, the people," and the exploitation of our Mother Earth. As the woman who spoke out alone against the exploitation of Mother's Day and the loss of its real meaning more than 100 years ago did, speak out today against those who will destroy us and our world.
What do you think?
Until next week, be well & happy, and write to your local representative - Fight Exploitation!

No comments:

Post a Comment