IF IT'S SUCH A NICE DAY, WHY SPOIL IT FOR THE RABBITS ?

IF IT'S SUCH A NICE DAY, WHY SPOIL IT FOR THE RABBITS ?

A Charlie Brown comic strip by Charles Schulz :  Snoopy is sleeping on the roof of his dog house; Frieda: It's a nice day. If I were a dog, I'd be out chasing rabbits on such a nice day... Snoopy: If it's such a nice day, why spoil it for the rabbits ?

Our idealization, here in western civilization, of the purpose of a nation is to provide a safe and secure environment to live and flourish .  

To be able to go about one's day, setting oneself to the tasks or pleasures we desire, without interference. 

 A military, in our idealized view, is to keep outside forces from doing that interference, to protect the freedom we have and offer.

When we were tribal groups, we would sometimes attack, kill and rob other tribal groups.  

This was essential for the survival of our group.

Our behavior did not change but our group size did.  This was also essential.  Only geographic separation kept group expansion in check but technology has overcome this check in fits and starts at first and then exponentialy.

Today, we want to believe that we have overcome this tendancy to commit "tribal banditry".  The taking from others by force.  We only protect ourselves.  We do not murder and steal from others.  We protect and have trade with them.

We learned this ideal from the people of Europe who commited "tribal banditry" on a mass scale almost continuously, up to the very recent past, with disasterous results for all but a few.

They have all but forsaken tribal banditry due to the advances of technology that brought them to the brink of full and total destruction.

Only the idealism that forged our nation and the vast resources of our land, and those of The Soviet Union and the British Empire, stopped the exponential and ultimate cost of war.

This, we believe, is our history except most of us are more comfortable forgetting the participation of the Soviets since they became "others" immediately upon the end of World War II.  We believe "self reliance" is uniquely American and was invented by us alone.

We do not conquer we liberate.  We do not rob we develop. This land was empty when our ancestors arrived.  There was no nation to make fair the delineations of ownership of property.

We are not illegal aliens.  We are the original owners as if God himself formed us from the dust of this land.

If it's such a beautiful day, then why spoil it for the rabbits.

Have you ever walked into a meadow in the morning and noticed all the life that your presence flushes from the grass?  Grasshoppers and moths and a myriad of creatures.  Others, not us.  Mere insects or maybe a snake or a rabbit.

 You might have spoiled somebody's day.  Somebody who can't protect thier freedom from a much larger force.

If your meadow is your yard and you haven't mowed the lawn for a while, and you get the mower out and proceed to address it, you might see a mass exodus of hundreds of living beings fleeing in your path.

You will have most definitely spoiled someones day.  It can't be helped can it?  we have to choose between our needs and the needs of others and besides , were talking about insects, maybe a baby bunny paralyzed with instinctive programming that has served it's species survival for thousands of years or more.

These creatures also have developed another survival tactic of excessive procreation.  So, is it that different if a hawk catches and eats the baby bunny, from your killing it with your lawn mower.

There will still be rabbits.  And besides we don't really need them for a food source anymore.What am I making such a big deal about?

If you are still reading this then you may already understand where I'm going.  

This land was not empty and given to us by God.  Men arrived and died of thier conciet and stupidity.  And came again and were welcomed and survived only by the kindness and compassion of the people they called savages and heathens and then, killed and robbed them while trying to save thier souls.

The Tribes of this continent warred against each other as in Europe, sometimes annihilating whole tribes but not very often and not as policy or creed but in response to the needs of survival.

We have idealized thier culture and their value of nature in our minds but not in our hearts and the actions of our lives. 

They killed for sustainance when they needed to and loved as they did, with the knowledge of their debt to thier prey and thier own mortality in the circle of life.

Death of anything, plant or animal, was not taken casually as their beliefs held a kinship with all that lives and the land that sustained them.

Their concept of respect was based on this relationship and an evolved awareness of their reliance upon the world around them.

I learned a mantra from Ram Das which is very useful to make this relationship clear to me, which is used to overcome the illusion of separateness.

TAT TVAM ASI  -  Thou art that         also  - And That Too ( is also me )

With this powerful tool, one can learn compassion.  Essential for the survival of any group.

Compassion can spoil your day sometimes but can also make a spoiled day right.

So, if it's such a nice day, why spoil it for the rabbits ?

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