Pretty Sounds
I love to hear the familiar munching sound of Morgan and Oliver as they eat carrots.
The Good of Good Works
Sir Thomas More apparently “objected to Luther’s denial that Christians could contribute to their own salvation through their good works” (Norton Anthology, Volume B of 8th Edition, p. 623). I quite agree, if religion doesn’t strongly encourage charity, I feel it has little point and will tend to do far more harm than good.
Evoking Bathophobia
“They [hypocrites] fall straight down into the frying pan where the devil makes the fritters of hell!”
- The Good Wife’s Guide: A Medieval Household Book. Trans. Gina L. Greco and Christine M. Rose. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP (2009): 68.
“Ant tah hit is to þolien, ant Godd haue[ð] ilahet hit, as ich ear seide, leste hwa se leope ant þer ne edstode lanhure, nawt nere þet kepte him, and driue adun swireuorð wiðuten ikepunge deope into helle.” (And so it is allowed, and God has made it [sexual intercourse within the bounds of marriage] lawful, as I said before, lest anyone who leaps and there does not at least stop, there being nothing to keep them, and falls down headlong without restraint deep into hell.)
- Millet Bella ed. Hali Meiðhad. Oxford UP (1982) 12.
(the translation is my own)
Protestantism and World Woes
I wonder how many of the world’s present ills can be explained in part by Protestantism, more specifically, contemporary American Protestantism? For example, how might the strictures of Protestantism, or lack thereof, add to the obesity epidemic and global warming? Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism all have fairly strict rules concerning diet. Catholics aren’t to eat meat on Fridays or throughout Lent. Muslims and Jews don’t eat pork. All have holidays involving fasting. Moreover, when, at least, a medieval Catholic committed the sin of gluttony, his or her penance may well have been to feed the poor. Someone who ate more than their fair share of food was not only chastised, but made to share of what they obviously had too much. Protestant Christians, who depend on salvation through faith alone, have no reason to control their appetites or care for our world. While some have taken it upon themselves to act as stewards of the earth and seek to reduce their harm thereon through the careful and restrained consumption of both animals and fossil fuels, many devout Protestants simply profess their belief in Jesus Christ and, because this world is temporary, proceed to consume a day’s—or more—worth of calories in the form of fast food before driving home in their SUVs. A devout Catholic could not be so glib in the performance of such harmful deeds, the first is the sin of gluttony, the second is the sin of sloth. Both must be confessed, and, before absolution, penance must be done. Were Protestantism less popular, would America be thinner and less wasteful? Would Protestantism be so popular were it not so forgiving of gluttony, sloth and avarice?
How does one convince a dog to leave one alone? Two weeks of a consistent air of disapproval have had no discernible effect on this beast.
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| — | effigies try turning your back and generally not meeting the dog’s eyes, then again, dogs tend to want human approval so much that you might get more peace by pretending you love it, once the dog has your approval it will likely lose interest in you |
It’s sad to have to reach into Morgan’s cone to scratch her ears. It is sadder still to be looked at reproachfully because she can’t clean herself or reach that spot that itches on her neck. And sadly, what goes bump in the night lately happens to be my beloved companion who is finding it difficult to maneuver in her clear plastic shield, especially in the dark.
I Have Been Overly Optimistic
Until recently, I was under the mistaken, but happy impression that the women’s movement had been successful in changing society with the exception of a few men who would be evil with or without women’s rights. I thought that choice—whether to live like June Cleaver or Selma and Louise, to have a career, a family or both—had been not merely established, but accepted. However, increasingly, I have found that there are significant pockets of society that bemoan our increasingly egalitarian society, birth control in general and especially the morning-after-pill. Such people, in addition to feeling that women with careers cannot be happy, see Planned Parenthood as harmful to women—in terms of both physical and mental/moral health—, families, and the parent-child relationship. Apparently, the morning-after-pill has been under special scrutiny because of its wide availability to women under the age of 18. Some parents, it seems, are more concerned that their teenagers will not become pregnant from the sex their parents didn’t know they were having than they are that their teenagers will not talk to them about their emerging sexuality and corresponding activities, emotions or desires.
Some people feel similarly about abortion rights for minors:
Without a Parental Notification law, Dr. Meryl Severson, Medical Director of Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs, can puncture your daughter’s uterus and you will not know about it until after she has lost 80 percent of her blood. That is, if she survives the abortion. (http://irlc.org/irlc/get-the-facts/planned-parenthood/hurts-women/)
I could be mistaken, but the author of the above appears to be more concerned that a girl under 18 could die from an abortion than the fact that she might feel the need to have an abortion in secret. I very much disapprove of these priorities and whether or not someone believes abortion to be the right choice, I hope that in the future parents will seek to earn their daughters’ trust and not simply demand further authority over their activities.
On the other hand, if parents must enforce their beliefs on their children, I do wish that they would, for equity’s sake, demand control over whether or not their sons behave in ways that may impregnate minors.
