by Miriam | May 18, 2014 | Uncategorized
We went to a horse-pull the other day; afterward, I spoke with the owner of one of the teams. She told me about how one of the pair just loved to pull – lived to pull – and the other could take it or leave it. She said, "I guess we're going horse shopping this summer. We've done this three years in a row and she just doesn't have the heart for it. But what a nice horse. I'll see if I can train her to drive."
It was such a pleasant surprise, as I had thought she was going to say, "She's gone. We're going to sell her." Feeding a giant draft horse is expensive and quite a commitment. I was impressed that they liked her enough to not only keep her, but find something that brought out her best as well.
It brought to mind how enjoyable it is to experience others in their gifting. And, how wonderful it is to engage in something within the intersection of desire and skill. It's a sweet spot. (pun intended).
by Miriam | May 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
I feel that our vocabulary has taken a rather hard hit these days.
When I was a young person, I read voraciously and it was not uncommon for my friends to ask me what I was saying. Didn't do much for my popularity, but definitely helped on my standardized test scores. Intrigingly enough, where I found my sylabic number plummet was with the advent of texting … which, btw, I adore. Txting means I am brief and to the point … however, before multipage texts, when limited to 240 characters, I found myself using progressively smaller words and simpler phrases. I do not tweet, because that would positively be the end of my ever declining and thinning use of interesting words.
For your pleasure, I will leave you with a few delightful, but rarely used words.
Pulchritude
Sacrosanct
Antidiluvian
All three were used in an episode of a show I was watching. Sacrosanct I knew, but I had to look the other two up! : )
by Miriam | May 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
We are what we repeatedly do – Aristotle
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. – John Eldredge
It doesn't count unless you ship – Seth Godin (wrote the post days ago, but never posted it)
by Miriam | May 13, 2014 | Uncategorized
I recently learned about some large scale animal testing / cloning that is right out of a science fiction book. It involves splicing genes into DNA from two different classifications of animals, which then produce specific proteins that have to be extracted from the animals and then mixed … and what it produced is nothing short of absolutely miraculous. But at what cost? Every male animal is killed at birth. All other animals are killed and incinerated as soon as their usefulness is over – incinerated, because the recombined DNA cannot be allowed to get into the environment in any way, shape, or form.
Another experiment they do there produces dozens and dozens of animals with specific diseases that are then shipped off to medical schools; all so that cures for humans can be found.
It is an ethical mess for me and honestly wish I didn't know.
I am here, on this planet, writing this blog post, because someone, somewhere figured out that this chemical cocktail mix of poisons would be just enough to kill the cancer, but not so much to kill the person. And you can bet that they didn't come to that conclusion by trying it out on people first. So what am I to say about all this? I am alive because thousands of innocent animals died. And probably suffered immensely.
When I was a kid, I read a book about animal testing, and it scarred me for life. I would get images from the book in my head years later and pray God would make me forget.
But, as I often tell people, you can't un-know something that you now know.
This is actually true with a lot of things.
Once you've learned how to ride a bike, unless there's brain damage, generally, that sticks with you.
Once you've learned that you can stand up to a bully, usually the intimidation spell has been broken.
When a dog bites you hard, it's difficult to trust again. Same with a spouse who strikes you or lies or steps out on you … that's pretty impossible to "un know."
I now am aware of the location where this testing is occurring. It has marred my bucholic view of the place. I wish I was still ignorant.
by Miriam | May 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
I was walking past our barn when I saw our duck in an unlikely spot, basically on a path from here to there … she was fairly immovable and actually opened her beak to hiss at me … a sure sign that she was protecting her eggs. Or egg, as was the case here. Earlier in the season, she had chosen a sensible and safe location within the barn, deep in straw, inside a large dog kennel that we had given her for this very purpose. However, because we do not need multiple adorable ducklings waddling about, as she laid a clutch of 6 eggs, my husband removed some and poked needles through the ones he left, thus preventing their development. We hoped she would be ok with this arrangement; alas, she felt foiled and moved on. However, in her frustration to achieve her goal, she chose poorly. The new egg will never survive – either our dog will eat it or some other creature will take it and she is alarmed every time someone walks by – which is frequently, due to it being a thoroughfare through our property.
Similarly, I read this article about the inventor of Mother's Day (Anna Jarvis) - she started well, campaigning for a holiday to honor mothers' sacrifices and, actually, in a day before social media and viral videos, she achieved this. However, it didn't turn out like she had hoped – the flower and card companies had a hey-day with the holiday and she became outraged at this good thing gone bad. She spent the rest of her life trying to undo it all and ended up at one point in jail, dying penniless.
The notion I am pondering really has to do with what happens when a person's (or duck's) goals are perpetually blocked or frustrated. I believe you see behaviors come out that are not the individual's best. Perhaps their judgement is colored by this all-encompassing need to push through and achieve that benchmark.
I am speaking of myself here, as much an any other person, fictitious or otherwise. It is terribly difficult to walk that razor's edge of enough focus and stick-to-itiveness to stay the course, but enough flexibility to say, "this is not worth it at the expense of everyone and everything else." There comes a desperateness when you feel blocked long enough. Many of my poorest decisions comes from this space. A friend of mine often says "Never make important choices out of desolation" (I believe she is quoting a famous dead guy, yet his name eludes me).
So, for those of us who feel blocked and stymied in places … don't allow yourself to option for something you will later despair in because of the panic or stuck-ness. No one wants regretin hindsight.
