Today

I have been so angry and sad watching the dismantling of civil rights in the United States this week by an illegitimate Court.  I am still enraged and disgusted, but the bottom line is that I am blown away by the love of cruelty displayed by the Republicans, the fundamentalist Christians, the Nazis, the KKK, etc., who have made common cause to harm those of us who are happy living outside of their paradigm.  They just can't stand the idea that people would be enjoying life, sexuality, each other, not according to the pathologically rigid repressive erotophobic anti-life strictures of their archaic and cruel religious beliefs. It makes them crazy that people can actually be allowed to be themselves no matter their race, class, gender, orientation, etc. so they set out to cause harm. Yes, it's about the cruelty.  The repressive nature of the christofascist white supremacist belief system perverts pro-life impulses into hate and violence and pleasure in causing harm.  We are witnessing something, it's not the first time, but it is happening; the birth of another rendition of the dark ages, when ignorance was enforced through religious hegemony, where life is not valued and the very few rule sadistically over the many.  The only question is, will we stand for it?  A wise woman spoke yesterday at a gathering and talked about how each time this patriarchal system assumes power, they are defeated more quickly.  May it be so.  So mote it be.

Zeus!

 Zeus is a puppy I met a few weeks ago at a local animal shelter.  He's almost grown into his feet so 14 months maybe?  Pit Bull mix, sort of a cinnamon color with a while blaze on his chest.  At the shelter he was alone in a cage and I went to him and gave him treats and he was very very very enthusiastic, and when I got up to go he just sat down and wailed.  Really heartbreaking.  He's very much a baby still.

Friday afternoon I picked Zeus up at the shelter and brought him home.  He is happy to be here and very curious, checking everything out.  He is very affectionate, starved in fact, and he's got a powerful little body and puppy energy.  We're working on "sit" which he now does, and "off" and "no jumping" which he is starting to respond to. He loves to chase the ball or the kong.  He likes the different foods he's getting.  He listens to everything and watches my every move and is clearly "taking it all in."  I suspect he hasn't lived in a house before.  He's a little head shy, so he was probably hit.  I am clumsy and I dropped a knife on the tile floor while cooking last night and he was very upset and frightened. He recovered quickly, though, with gentle coaxing and affection.  He runs around then he crashes, typical puppy.  He barks when he hears someone at the door or at the door to the next door place.

It's a beautiful thing, watching him blossom in a loving secure comfortable space.  He's been waiting for this.

Zeus needs a permanent home.  I can only have him for the summer as I have travel plans.  He will be some lucky someone's really great dog for a long time.  Anyone who's interested can contact me through this blog. He needs a good home with space, preferably country, and loving people who will treat him with kindness and invite him into their family.

There are so many animals who need homes.  I knew it, but going to the shelter and seeing all the dogs and cats, and so many kittens, I had to respond. Hint hint 😊

Here we are

Any field of life, whether a pond or a forest or a planet, has limits, capacities, processes that can be disrupted resulting in die off.  If we look at Earth over the last few hundred years we see an increase in activity, population, extraction, heat, pollution, the list goes on.  It looks and feels like we are headed for massive system breakdowns, in fact many of our human made social systems are already collapsing. Both the social contract and social safety infrastructures are disintegrating before our eyes. That is just the start.  Wait until large planetary systems collapse quickly.  We're getting close, with the oceans dying, the tipping of the Amazon rainforest which now emits more CO2 than it sequesters, and other such Earth systems collapsing under the weight of humanity's demands.  Record warm temperatures at both planetary poles has very significant ramifications.  The momentum is building, we all feel it whether we acknowledge it or not, and that is working on the collective psyche.  Fear of annihilation drives extremist politics and extreme religiousity, both of which shred the social contract.  We see this happening all around the world.

It's always nice to wrap up a blog entry with a pithy resolution.  I don't have one.  Here we are.

Can suffering be a catalyst for positive personal growth?

 I was recently interviewed by Mina Blair for her podcast MatChat.  Here's a link to that interview.

Can suffering be a catalyst for positive personal growth? with Baruch Zeichner