Not Afraid...

-- I'm not afraid of coyotes. I know that they will paint a target in the middle of the highway, fill it with Acme birdseed, and then attempt to drop a piano on my head when I bend down to eat...

Black Friday Madness...

- - What exactly is it that possesses people to rouse themselves before dawn and join masses of like-minded shoppers to wait for store gates to open at four a.m. and earlier the day after Thanksgiving? You may get a few bargains, but is it really worth it? I know of one person in my immediate area who waited in line for an hour and twenty minutes to check out at the cash register with just a few items. Some people really get off on this kind of competitive shopping...it's almost a bloodlust kind of thing.

The spirit manifested by some Xmas shoppers is so very un-Christmas as to make your heart bleed, an attitude of get out of my way, and gimme mine! People have actually been trampled to death by the human herd....

...and isn't it ironic that this annual orgy of materialism is supposedly to commemorate Christ, who himself owned little except for the clothes on his back?

Evolution's Anniversary...

- - It was 150 years ago in November of 1859 that Charles Darwin published and expounded upon his theory of evolution and natural selection.

Although evolution has become a cornerstone of the sciences, it remarkably remains controversial in some circles. The doctrines of so-called "scientific creationism" and "intelligent design" continue to be dragged before school boards for inclusion in a science curriculum, although neither is scientific and both are essentially religious dogma masquerading as science.

Belief in God and evolution need not be mutually exclusive, despite the contentions of some religious fundamentalists. I find it far more marvelous to think of the deity as continuing to refine His creation through evolution rather than render it the product of a single, static act...

...have patience with others.-- God's not done with us yet!

Reiki and Animals...

--Reiki ("Universal Life Force" in Japanese) is a form of healing for the self and others involving touch that originated from Tibetan Buddhism over 2,000 years ago and was re-discovered and re-defined by Dr. Usui in the late 19th century. Much more recently, Reiki has enjoyed a resurgent popularity as a form of adjunct therapy to more traditional medical practices. I regard it as a wellness technique.

Why Reiki is brought up here is that it recognizes different kinds of animals, and offers "attunements" which may link us more closely to the spirits and essences of those animals...

...and yes, I have Fox medicine empowerment...

Christmas Overkill...

-- Christmas has become the Godzilla of holidays, a two-month monster. I got my first indicator shortly after Halloween, when a store bag given me bore the legend, "Enjoy the holidays!"--Yipes! The Xmas carols started blaring shortly after that.

How, oh how, do disc jockeys at "All Xmas music, all the time" stations manage to keep their sanity between Halloween and December 25th? For that matter, pity the poor store clerks who must suffer this auditory assault as well.-- Yeah, Xmas music is nice and all that...but to have to listen to it incessantly for about two months straight?!-- Truly cruel and unusual punishment.

...and pity poor Thanksgiving!--A dandy little non-commercial holiday, the observance of which is all but eclipsed by the Xmas juggernaut waiting to blow it off the road!--Could we shift Thanksgiving to maybe January and give it a little room to breathe?

--Can't we please just stuff a dead bird with stale bread, and eat it?