This Red-tailed hawk has been keeping an eye on my chickens.
I don't have much to share these days...the new year has gotten off to a bit of a rough start for my family, but I know that only means there are brighter days ahead. Hope and love, and all that stuff, you know?
Here is a passage from a novel that I'm reading, that I thought was interesting. What do you think?
"The tree's an acacia. The bird? I have no idea."
"I thought you knew everything about the wild world," I teased, and watched him bridle.
"Our people don't share the European mania for naming and categorizing," he chided me. "You think that just because you can give something a name you know something about it; but if I told you its name, what more would you know about it? Nothing essential about its nature, nothing important at all: just an artificial word some man has randomly attached to the creature that won't make it fly any better or produce more young. It is another form of colonialsim, this naming of our world."
~from The Salt Road, by Jane Johnson
This passage brought to mind so many things for me about how I experience nature (especially bird watching), but also about people, and what it means to know something. These days, we confuse information with knowledge. We think that our ever advancing technology has opened a treasure trove for us. Has it?
Every so often I write a letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe. They never publish it, but I write anyway in order to let off a little steam ;-) . Imagine my surprise when I opened this morning's paper and saw the letter that I wrote last week in response to this article: The Sleepover: Teenagers and Sex. At first I was giddy with excitement. Then I read the letter. It wasn't mine. I mean, it was, but I barely recognized it. I certainly can understand the need to pare down letters for length, and my original was a little long (although not any longer than many letters that they print regularly), but what they printed was so severely edited that I'm not really comfortable having my name attached to it.
Would you like to see my original letter and the one the Globe printed?
Original:
As a parent of three teenagers, I read The Sleepover (Kate Tuttle, G section, Dec. 22) with interest,. I was hoping to learn something new about how parents can help their teens develop positive attitudes about sex. Instead, I read that parents in the Netherlands give their teens permission to have sex at home, which ensures the sex is “safe”(parents take responsibility for birth control). It’s rather like the parents who allow their teens to drink with their friends at home--what can go wrong if there are parents involved?
The Globe Editor's version:
AS A parent of three teenagers, I was hoping to learn in Kate Tuttle’s article about teen sex how parents can help their teens develop positive attitudes about sex (“Young love,’’ g section, Dec. 22). Instead, I read that Dutch parents give their teens permission to have sex at home, which ensures the sex is “safe.’’
Why do we put the focus of sex education solely on pregnancy and disease prevention? Why is there no focus on the long-term psychological effects of sex outside a committed relationship? What is the effect on society as a whole, when you consider the impact on future relationships and emotional health? Can this be considered positive, healthy sexuality?
Kind of boggles the mind doesn't it? It makes me wonder what happens to books in the editing process.
White pine forest at Horn Pond
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were abundant with joy. Candles were lit, carols were sung, feasts were prepared and enjoyed, and gifts were exchanged. On the 26th we walked in the woods together, counting the geese on the pond and marveling at the fast forming ice. On Tuesday my husband went back to work, and the children and I ran around the house playing with marshmallow shooters (this year's favorite toy :-), while our dog happily cleaned up after us. Today we found places in our home for all of our bright new things. We also gathered up the dirty laundry and went to the library. This is Christmas, too.
After the shepherds worshipped their newborn King, whose cradle was not crafted of gold, but was a homely animal trough, they returned to the fields, to their sheep, to their families and their work. Christ had come, but what had changed? Nothing. Everything. Christmas is the difference between standing in a room in the middle of the night, and standing in it in the morning. The room doesn't change at all, but your view of it has changed completely. And, so everything has changed, because now you see.
For Catholics, Christmas is more than a day. It is a season that begins on Christmas Eve, that holy night, and continues through January 5th. I am still in the midst of it, beholding the view, and pondering what it means for my life. These are the days that I take joy, and also take stock. I am writing down my thoughts as I pray each day, and considering what my response to Christ's coming should be in the year ahead. The spiritual life is rooted firmly in the practical. The real life I lead each day in my home and community is the pulse of my spirit. I have much to think about in the Christmas days still left, and much to do to plan for a new year of home learning, healthy living, and open-hearted loving.
