Coopernundrums

    Oh how I love the joys of parenthood…..most of the time. I was a pretty young parent having a step son as soon as I got married and my first son within my first year of marriage. I never subscribed much to the school of thought regarding how teens drive you crazy. I still don’t lend that belief much credence. It is funny, however, how much they tend to make your stress levels go off the charts.

    I want my boys to slow down and realize that they don’t have to accomplish everything they want to accomplish TODAY. They have time, plenty of time. I know some folks out there say that you should do all that you can as fast and as hard as you can because you never know if you will be alive tomorrow, BUT, I am not on of those thinkers.

    Oh how I miss changing diapers and cuddling with them. YES I said it..changing diapers! Now it seems that I see them on their way out the door more than I see them at dinner time. It also feels like they have a lot of hate and while I am sure they don’t mean to they seem to focus it at me. Some of that is probably my mental state , but it sure feels real.

    What to do, what to do? I guess ya just love them while you can and do the best you can and wait patiently for the days when they have their own families and realize what a job parents have. I think its only then that they will truly realize what a hard job it is raising, protecting and loving your children..

     “When I became convinced that the universe is natural—that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom.

     The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the world—not even infinite space.

     I was free. Free to think, to express my thoughts. Free to live my own ideal. Free to live for myself and those I loved. Free to use all my faculties, all my senses. Free to spread imagination’s wings. Free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope. Free to judge and determine for myself. Free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past. Free from popes and priests. Free from all the “called” and “set apart.” Free from sanctified mistakes and “holy” lies. Free from the winged monsters of the night. Free from devils, ghosts and gods.

     For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought, no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings, no claims for my limbs, no lashes for my back, no fires for my flesh, no following another’s steps, no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

     And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers, who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain, for the freedom of labor and thought, to those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains, to those who proudly mounted scaffold’s stairs, to those by fire consumed, to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons and daughters of men and women. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they have held, and hold it high, that light may conquer darkness still.”   ~Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899)

       Couple of friends and I were hanging out, and eating lunch at the office today and we were watching an animal show on TV.  The show was some rescue show where they save mistreated animals and try to rehabilitate them.  I took a moment to share my views regarding horses.  I wasn’t really surprised at the reactions I got from them.

            You see, I don’t believe horses should be ridden by people at all.  For what it’s worth, I personally don’t think ANY animal should have the hairy, lazy, descendant of an ape riding around on its back.  I view horses as beautiful, majestic, graceful, intelligent animals that represent some of the finest qualities found in all of us.  Horses, much like the loyal dog, share a place in our history that few other creatures have or can.

            Don’t misunderstand me, I realize, thanks to one of my lunch buddies, that hoses originally were too small to ride and that it was only after years of specialized breeding that they grew large enough to ride.  This is where his reaction started.  Yes I learned something today. I now know that horses were selectively bred specifically for the purpose of being ridden.  This didn’t change my mind at all. I know horses played a pivotal role in medieval times, then onward through history to young America where we would not have been able to colonize and develop this country without them.  That time is past however.  Horses are no longer needed to get from point A to point B.  They aren’t needed to plow fields, tend crops, or deliver mail.

            The point I am trying to make is that we should view and treat the horse with some reverence and respect.  These animals are one of the few that can actually show you love back. It drives me nuts to think of fat, greasy Homo sapiens hiking their legs up and SPURRING or whipping these gorgeous animals into submission.

            I firmly believe that horses should never be ridden.  I don’t care how many horse advocates say “oh they like to be ridden” or “oh they want to be ridden”.  It’s pure nonsense.  Horses deserve to be treated with dignity. After all, you would not want a saddle slung on your back and bit jammed in your mouth so a chimp could lead you around a mountainside or round a race track.  Have some decency.  Don’t ride horses.