Why We Need Animal Protection Laws

               Imagine driving home one day and you notice the car ahead of you is slowing down slightly, you think they are having car problems so you slow down too, perhaps you can offer assistance. But instead you see someone in the car throwing a dog out of the window into the ditch and then speed off. Shocked and sickened you pull off of the road and run over to where the dog was thrown. You can tell the dog is alive and it appears that his back legs are broken so you carefully pick him up and usher him to the vet. You breathe a sigh of relief when the vet tells you he will make a full recovery. You find a home for him and now Rocket lives happily in Southern California. Unfortunately not all animals who are victims of animal cruelty are so lucky. It is difficult for us to comprehend anyone causing such harm to any animal but it is far more common than we realize which is why animal protection laws are so important.

 We’ve come a long way in improving our animal protection laws since 1641 when the first animal protection law was passed. Though the laws at that time were directed more towards working animals it was at least the start that would lay the groundwork for our current laws and we continue to make progress. Prior to 1986 only four states had laws against animal cruelty, now all fifty do. Illinois, Oregon, Maine, California and Michigan are the states offering the most protection with the harshest penalties while North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Iowa and Kentucky are the states lagging behind.

Animal cruelty is not limited to a violent act towards an animal but also includes any neglect and failing to provide for the animal’s general care and well-being. Most of us are aware that there is a strong correlation between violence towards animals and violence towards humans. This awareness has prompted law enforcement to take these crimes much more seriously. Earlier this year it was announced that animal abuse will now be considered a Group A felony prompting harsher punishment and penalties. The ASPCA estimates that in this country an animal is abused every ten seconds. Exact numbers are impossible to determine because much of the abuse goes unreported.

Animals offer us unconditional love and companionship, it is our responsibility to ensure they are protected and cared for which includes reporting any incidents of animal cruelty or neglect. Please take the time to check into your state and local animal protection laws to make sure the laws sufficiently guard against and punish animal cruelty. If they don’t offer adequate protection be the voice for those that don’t have one. 

Ladies, We Just Don't Get It!

There has been much discussion about abortion and Planned Parenthood in the news as of late and both sides seem to be getting more frustrated. The anger seems to be aimed at the women who utilize these clinics, yet no solution arises from all of the discussion, so I offer mine. 

Since it seems women don’t get it and continue to have indiscriminate, unprotected sex with men who have no intention of marrying us and then we wantonly get pregnant and march off to the abortion clinic only to have it ripped from our womb. 

Ladies, we don’t get it, and we can’t be trusted to do the right thing…so I think it’s time for those opposing women having control over their bodies try a new angle. Focus your attention on the men and leave it up to them to put an end to this insanity.  

The abortion issue is less complicated than it seems, because there is a simple solution; condoms. Okay, it isn’t perfect but if condoms were used consistently and properly with every sex act we would put a huge dent in unwanted pregnancies.   

After all they are 98% effective in preventing pregnancy, as well as preventing STD’s; so let’s put this issue to bed once and for all.  

Really, it’s that simple-isn’t it?

Once Upon A Time...

Imagine a place where there is harmony. You are surrounded by people who value the same things that you value; stability, security, integrity and mutual respect. Because you have similar values and you essentially want the same things for your future - crime is relatively rare. Of course there are disagreements and situations that need resolution but those resolutions are not difficult to come by because you gave the same vision for your future and the future of your children and the future looks good.

But one day others decided that you were too much alike; you lacked diversity and were too isolated from the cultures around the world. You needed to be more inclusive; embrace the other cultures of the world, bring them into your society and allow them to assimilate into your society so you could coexist.

So, being generous and open minded you decide that it will be a good thing to invite others in and extend your generosity to them so that they are able to enjoy the benefits your society has to offer. You are optimistic that they will learn from you and you will learn from them and together you can build an even better future for everyone.

But there is a problem with that. The other people that you so graciously accepted and welcomed into your society don’t want to assimilate. They aren’t interested in who you are as a community, they don’t care about your beliefs or your values. In fact, they despise your beliefs and your values and deride the way you act, the way you think, and the way you look. They believe women are second class citizens. They believe their culture is superior and believe everyone should accept it.

No one wants to be critical of the others because that would be offensive to them and their way of life, so no one says anything. The natives adapt to the others and make room for their intolerance and judgement; they make excuses for them and cover up their behavior.

Now imagine that same place some year’s later, violent crime has increased up by 300% and rape is up by 1472%. Only one other country, known for its violence against women has a higher incidence of rape than this country. That is and of itself is horrible; but the real tragedy is that those in charge are still making excuses for those others that see fit to commit violent acts against those who so unconditionally accepted them into their community. 

A World of Illusions

We live in a world of illusions. Advertisers manipulate us with images of the life they think we want and all we have to do to get it is buy their product and that perfect life is ours.  So we go out and buy the product or whatever it is they are selling and are disappointed when nothing in our life changes. Advertisers lie to us, politicians lie to us constantly and then we lie to ourselves. We lie for many reasons; to maintain an image, to make others think we are something better or more interesting and we lie because we want to maintain some sort of control in an environment that at times seems overwhelming; after all the truth can be difficult. Advertisers and politicians get to us to think with our emotions rather than reason and logic and most of the time we aren’t even aware that it’s happening.

With all of the distractions and images surrounding us it’s easy to lose track of who we really are. We get tossed into categories that aim to define and limit us, but that isn’t the reality. We are individuals, each with unique personalities to be celebrated not restricted by a politician or advertisers narrow definition of who they think we are or should be. There is room for different opinions and different thoughts; that’s what this country was built on. Being true to yourself is the best gift you can give.

The Two Front War on Women

Liberals and conservatives both seem to have some desperate need to place women into some narrowly defined box of what it means to be a woman. Conservatives speak of the traditional woman, liberals the liberated woman, what does that mean, who sets the definition of what that is? Is traditional defined by marriage and children or is it defined by what her ideology is and how she lives her life, can you be a traditional woman and not marry? There seems to be this prevalent attitude that a woman is somehow flawed if she fails to take the path society has laid out for her. If both conservatives and liberals believe in the individual and individual choice, why not let her decide what path is best suited for her?  

Marriage is not for everyone, raising a family is not for everyone, being single is not for everyone and why isn’t that okay? If you are a woman of a certain age and are childless you are judged. If you are a single mother (for whatever reason) you are judged. If you are a working mother you are judged, if you aren’t working you are judged. One size does not fit all and no, we don’t all want the same thing, both sides should celebrate that not attack it. We claim that we celebrate the individual and individual liberty but we attack those who choose a path we find distasteful or are unfamiliar with.  

While the numbers vary according to the source; on average 40-50% of marriages end in divorce, 60-67% of second marriages end in divorce and 73-74% third marriages do. Many more divorces are occurring with those over the age of 50; sociologists say the rate has doubled since the 1990’s and 66% of those divorces are initiated by women, one would have to wonder why?

AARP did a survey of dying people and asked what their biggest regrets were; the number one regret was not having the courage to live a life true to myself. That pretty much says it all. 

We are human beings before we are women and there is not a one size fits all.  

A Random Thought

If you have ever found yourself wondering how things in the world seem to get so off course. Let’s start with this…The Hegelian Dialectic; bringing about change in three parts…

Thesis-create the problem

Antithesis-Generate opposition (fear, panic, hysteria)

Synthesis- Solution to the problem created in step 1

Certainly real problems come our way…but lately it seems as though the solutions to the problem border on insanity. One could insert almost any crisis to test this theory. Global warming as an example; the motivation may be money, power or some twisted idea about social justice. The elite would like the people to go in a certain direction, but no one rational person would go in that direction,(create a world with higher and higher energy costs, fail to create jobs, etc.)  so we must create a problem. Global warming is the problem and  unless we return to the dark ages and stop using fossil fuels the polar bears will die and so will we.  Fear and panic must be injected into the daily conversation so that people begin to believe it. The storms will become more and more severe; we will run out of food….then steps in the government….with the solution….more regulations…bigger government. Less freedom for the people and fewer choices and the choices we have will all cost more. Remember…never let a crisis go to waste.

An Essay

The Search for Self

In Buddhism it seems the concept of “self” is similar to that of “soul” in Christianity. Christians live out their lives on Earth so that their soul may live on for eternity. The Buddha believes that nothing is permanent in as much as things are constantly in flux. Also, there is the question of how we perceive things and if our perception is or can ever be accurate. To a great degree we are a product of our environment so we interpret things and see things based on the biases and beliefs’ with which we were raised.  Taking that into consideration it would stand to reason that our perception is perhaps skewed and not entirely rooted in truth.

Attempting to conceptualize the existence of “self” would be reliant upon the perception of what it means to exist. Human beings feel pain, happiness and many other sensations that are physical as well as emotional. So we know that at least in some sense we do indeed exist. The Buddha believed that everything is connected and to a certain degree we are all just a part of something else and reliant upon the grand idea of something greater than “self”. When one of us ceases to exist the world carries on as it has so nothing depends upon the existence of a self.

Buddhism, as with many religions or philosophies is a way of looking at the world and a set of beliefs that guide us as to how we should live our lives. The only way for any religion to work is for everyone to accept the fact that there is only one path to nirvana, or one path for salvation and for that to be true, the idea of an individual must be rejected.

In all societies rules must be established so that people may live together peacefully. One person’s well-being cannot be more important than someone else’s. Belonging to a group, any group requires a certain amount of rejecting the “self” so that everyone’s needs are taken into consideration. Society would break down if it was “every man for himself” so to speak because each person would only be thinking of their own needs at the expense of others.  As with most things that require faith, it is impossible to prove or disprove whether or not they are true. Science can prove when the Earth was formed with a certain degree of certainty but it cannot prove there is no God. I can reject the power of prayer but there is no way for me to prove it works or that it doesn’t. The Buddha can reject the idea of “self” in the context of Buddhism but that doesn’t mean a person doesn’t have a “soul”, it is undeterminable.

The idea of “self” to me cannot be rejected, yet I do concur our perception of self is misguided. I am an individual but I am also a part of the universe and everything that encompasses, the trick is in convincing everyone else of that. Christianity instills the belief that humans have dominion over everything else, so it breeds this notion that we, the “individual” are the most important thing.  My actions or inactions not only impact me, they also impact others, in ways I may or may not be aware of.

The path to anything, including nirvana requires many things and there is no one way to get there. Introspection is the first step to any type of discovery and the reconciliation of the self and the whole. I am no more important and am no less important than what is around me. A balance needs to exist in everything, when things are out of balance it doesn’t work. That balance is true within the context of the self as well. Believing that “ego” is part of the “self”, it is a delicate balance that keeps that in check. Too much ego and I go about life thinking my needs are more important than those of others, too little ego and the chances of me being exploited or taken advantage of increase.

It may seem as though this paper rambles a bit, probably because it does. When I realized this I began to panic and frantically began editing and trying to salvage what I had so that I would not have to start over with a new position. Then I stepped back and began thinking about the subject matter, the existence of self, or not as the case may be and I made a decision to leave the paper as it was not because I thought the paper had such merit but because in some ways the paper illustrated a process; a process of “self” discovery. The “self” changes, evolves and we are not the same person as we were just a day ago and I am not the same person I was when I began this paper, perhaps that is the beginning.