Where The Wild Things Are...

Sorry for the delay in blogging again. Things have been rather hectic of late. Skittles safely arrived ten days ago. The integration plan my dad and I put together worked like a charm. After a peaceful few weeks in the suburbs of Chicago, Skittles had adjusted to the real world again and made a good friend in my folks' Airedale, Winston. In fact she had gotten so well adjusted she was starting to guard their house against workmen and squirrels. She slept most nights in bed with my folks and Winston. When they went out, she had free reign of the house and didn't get into any mischief.

On Saturday, March 19th, she traveled from Chicago to the Upper Peninsula. There is a lone official rest area on this trip just south of Green Bay. All the Shell dogs have visited this rest stop and left their offerings and so Skittles continued the tradition. Upon arrival, my dad put her on the leash and walked her around the road for a bit. Eventually we let out the other dogs so the sniffing ritual could begin. There was no tension between them at all.

During my dad's visit, she slept with him, but almost immediately I began to feed her with the other dogs. When it came time for him to head home, she handled the transition without any problems at all.

She is extremely obsessed with the cats. As I posted on Facebook the other day, I am learning that it is not so much when will Skittles get bored as when will the cats remember that they are in charge. I make sure they have ample room to escape the canine frenzy. We are making slow progress.

In the midst of all this, Frankie got rather ill. He started to vomit that Saturday night and wasn't right for a few days. By Monday night, something was clearly wrong and I brought him to the vet first thing Tuesday morning. He was very dehydrated. He ended up spending the night and the next day there. My concern was the similarity between his symptoms and Cosmo's symptoms just before he died. In the end, the vet decided that Frankie must have eaten something that has floated to the surface courtesy of the Spring snow melt. He's doing much better now.

Not long after Skittles made it to the U.P., her Olga past away in New York. To what extent she was holding on to see her safely here, we will never know. Her spirit watches over us all now and I'm sure she approves. Peace.

A Bigot Is A Bigot Is A Bigot...

There is a news item being shared on the social networks regarding yet another tragic murder. In this case an elderly man was murdered by his younger companion. The companion placed some stones and batteries in a sock and beat his friend to death. When questioned, he stated that the man had made a sexual advance and so he stoned him to death like it says to do in the Bible. The progressive religion haters have latched onto this one, cleansed the story of some important details, and posted it as further evidence of the evil nature of religion.

The hatred and vitriol of these anti-theists - their rabid fundamentalist attitude - their bigotry is as bad as the extremists from the opposing side. Yet, we progressives and liberals just smile and nod while these very angry individuals spew their rhetoric. I find it so ironic that folks who would otherwise savage someone for their racism or sexism see no problems with their own bigotry.

They either make blatant, sweeping generalizations about "religion" that apparently lump us all together from Gandhi to David Koresh. If not, then they make broad statements about Catholics, Baptists, or whichever denomination is the target of their ire.

Imagine if individuals from around the world thought this way about the United States... Let's see...the United States is evil, therefore all it's citizens are evil. Hmmmm, starts to sound a bit like how the terrorist organizations think. Another approach would be the leadership of the United States is evil and what Americans believe about themselves and the role they play in the world is evil and filled with hate, therefore all it's citizens are evil. Once again, smacks of how the terrorist organizations see us.

In the sad case above, if one searches out the facts of the story beyond say the glib little piece put forth on AlterNet, one would learn that the victim has fought a lifetime battle with developmental issues that had initially left him institutionalized. He was determined to live an independent life and had done so. His companion, the murderer, was a younger man that he met when he was hospitalized in a psychiatric facility and invited him to be his companion.

In all likelihood this individual is schizophrenic with religious delusions and paranoia. When placed in a proper context, it doesn't work quite as well as another proof against religion or the Bible.

Atheists show such a total lack of history and understanding when they stand up and shout out their attack on religion in all its varied forms and practices. I particularly love it when they apply the rules of science to relgion to "prove" that religion is false, ignoring the fact the religion and faith ISN'T science. It's like faulting your grandmother for not being your grandfather because she doesn't have balls.

I stayed out of one rather hateful conversational thread today on Facebook only to stumble into another. ::sigh:: Peace.

Are They Giving Skittles Coffee?

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

This was the spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill in Arizona, Blair River. He recently died at the age of 29. He tried to capitalize on his size in a manner similar to the way Jared of Subway fame has capitalized on his weight loss. In either case, our cultural obsession with indulgence was the engine driving their popularity.

We often think of our Puritan roots in terms of our warped approach to sexuality. As I thought about this young man's death, I began to ponder how our puritan roots have shaped our attitudes to all manner of indulgence.

For example, the state with the highest per capita of on line subscriptions for pornography is Utah. In other words, the state most under the influence of the Church of Latter Day Saints, which takes a very restrictive and limiting view on sexuality, harbors this guilty secret.

Those are the operative words - guilty secret - I believe that is the key to the titillation that factors into so many of our indulgences.

I followed a link suggested by a Facebook friend to a NY Times article that referenced a 2007 study in which they found that feeling ok about indulging oneself lead to less of a binge. The participants were told this was a taste test survey and were instructed to eat donuts. One group was told that they shouldn't feel bad about eating the donuts as all the participants were doing so. They were all then asked to participate in an additional taste survey involving a large bowl of candy. Those who were encouraged not to feel bad actually ate less of the candy than those who were not.

Of course, the whole conclusion of this study was that the secret to losing weight was to cut yourself some slack and give yourself permission to indulge. I mildly objected to the implication that big was still equated as bad. However, the overall conclusion was rather interesting and contributed to my thoughts tonight.

Think about binge drinking. I look back and cannot reasonably explain why I drank that way when I was younger. It makes no sense. However, I think that when we consider the behavior in light of Mormon porn, maybe we are onto something, namely that when something is forbidden or "sinful" and we are likely to harbor guilty feelings, we indulge all the more.

Think about how we relate to food. How much of our enjoyment is tied up with the guilty pleasure tango? Perhaps we dive into that box of cookies all the more because we felt guilty putting into our shopping cart, felt guilty again as we placed at the checkout, more guilt as we unpacked it (maybe even hid it up in a cabinet for later), and finally once we ripped into that box, boy were we ready to indulge!

Let’s consider the seven deadly sins…not sure of the list? Think of that rather frightening movie, Seven, in which individuals are murdered by a serial killer because of their guilt. Gluttony. Greed. Sloth. Vanity. Lust. Envy. Anger.

Essentially no indulgence is to be tolerated. If you enjoy your food, your money, your relaxation,
or your sexual activity too much, you are committing a deadly sin. And just how much is too much? There is no answer and so deep down we question ourselves…do I have the right to enjoy this?

If you’re liberal, the script is easy - with so much suffering in the world, how dare I…with so much hunger in the world, how dare I…with so much trouble in the world, how dare I…

If you’re conservative you see it all as sin anyway, so you already see it all as forbidden fun.

So where I am going with all this? Well, let’s go back and look at our spokesman, Blair. Being completely honest, on some level, for even a split second only, did you not think “well, of course, he died, just look at him…” I know I did. Inherent in that thought is a judgment - he was guilty of a sin - he got what he had coming to him.

Yet that very manner of thinking reminds me of something I read recently after Charlie Sheen made an anti-Semitic rant about his shows producer. There was a joke from the 1930's, "Hitler was making a passionate speech in Nuremberg and shouted to the crowd, "Who is the reason for all of Germany's problems? The Jews and the bicycle riders!" To which, one man turned to the other and said, "Why the bicycle riders?" We make similar responses when we pass judgment on individuals over their health issues.

We have been taught that corporations can sell us the answer to any problem we may face. We have been taught that if you do everything exactly the right way, you can avoid all health problems. If you maintain your weight at the right level, if you exercise the right amount, if you eat the right foods in the right portions...you can live forever! This feeds right into our Puritan way of thinking - if you live the right way you can go to Heaven!

The problem, of course, is that we really cannot control our biological destiny. Science continues to prove that more and more of what we face is due to the genetics we have inherited. A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with osteoporosis and she was devastated. In her mind, she was doing everything correctly - she is nearly an ascetic when it comes to food and portion size - she is militant about her approach to exercise. So how could SHE develop osteoporosis?

I see people that are so adamant in their belief that they will diet and exercise their way to perfect health - they are so pious about it. God forbid they indulge. When they do, the penance they assign themselves would make the Holy Father proud.

Which gets back to my whole point about indulgence. What if a wizard came along and said to you - "I can guarantee you live to be 150! All you need do is give up all physical contact with other humans and eat nothing but plain oatmeal" Would it really be worth it then to live to 150? I hope that every last one of you says "No."

Is it really worth giving up all delicious treats, by which I mean abstaining or feeling so guilty when you do indulge, in the hope of adding a few years to your life? Is it really worth sacrificing hours every week with endless exercise rather than lounging a bit on your sofa, watching some completely silly television show, having a pillow fight with your children, because you believe it will make you live longer?

By the way, studies have repeatedly shown that all this healthy living and exercise doesn't improve life expectancy. "Based on available information, physicians' recommendations about exercise should not include the possibility of increased life expectancy." Here's just one example.

I'm not suggesting we should give up trying to maintain a reasonable weight or that we should superglue ourselves to our couches. What healthy living does affect is quality of life. However, we all have our own ideas about what gives a life quality - in my case, I need a healthy amount of peace and quiet to just think and ponder, to read books and journals, to watch movies. I'm a big boy. I have health issues. Has my weight and activity level given me diabetes? Perhaps on top of a genetic trigger, yes. However, my dad is an equally big and equally sedentary man and he does not have diabetes.

I struggle with our Puritan heritage all the time. I drift into feelings of self recrimination. However, more often than not I allow myself to indulge and I am mostly successful at keeping the negative thoughts at bay. Peace.