This is not what our country *should* be, or at least not how it was envisioned by the framers (I always want to make that farmers) of the constitution. Thanks for weighing in, Janet.
Yes it must be hard for you,as you don't like killing.I don't like killing either l know it's for survival.Killing Is wrong cold blooded killing humans is evil ,and murder by a man who has orders to kill by idiots.l ask God where are you? Because I don't understand what is going on in his creation.Evil goes on with no justice being done .
It's incomprehensible, the levels of intentionally inflicted suffering. Though I know part of that is because we live here. The citizens of some countries have never known anything else. So, I suppose our current circumstances invite perspective, at least, and humility at a level many of us haven't experienced before. Certainly doesn't make it easy, or just.
Thank you Elizabeth for your wise words. Your essays resonate deeply with my heart. You offer so much food for thought (no pun intended), and many lessons of 'attentiveness to tenderness'.
What a generous comment, Jeannine, thank you. And I also appreciate the restack. Your 'attentive tenderness' is just right, and I do love a well placed pun. Do take care. It's good to see you here.
our tax dollars supporting state sanctioned cold-blooded murder, with impunity and no investigation, is an outrage. Thanks for adding squirrely beauty to the darkness
Despite the preponderance of horrible news and the fallout from this administration's actions, it's still true that we are surrounded by blessings. Thanks for the comment, Stephanie.
You have captured an essential truth here, Elizabeth, contextualizing it in a way that all of us can visualize. Thank you for using your voice and your writing skills to send that truth into the world in another necessary way. All hands on deck. All voices arise!
You know those amazing jumps that a squirrel can make from the tippy-tip of a branch of one tree to the tippy-tip branch of another? I love the leap you made from one part of your essay to the other. It's sobering. It's everywhere. Someone recently said "Humans have always been a mess; and we have always found the ballast to keep sailing." I think I just merged two quotes, but the idea is very Stoic: the world being a mess doesn't mean we change who we are and what we do to find good and promulgate joy.
Yes, Stew, and I love watching them make those dare devil moves! Thanks for letting me know the braiding here didn't fall flat.
Lacking the inclination to try for public office and with the realities of my circle of influence in mind, I don't always feel like I have much to offer in this struggle. But I can always, always be an ambassador for whatever it is that brings in more light.
All we can do is keep asking questions and remain true to our values. This time will pass. Let’s pray it’s soon. Thanks for always bringing up the challenging and thought provoking subjects.
Teresa, thank *you* for always reading carefully and offering generous reflections in response. It means so much that I can count on your input here. Soon...soon...may it be soon!
As an overseas reader whose opinions you already know, I really appreciate the fact that you are speaking out. It's time.
I was just speaking to a cousin who has spent 3 years living in Houston and whose wife is American. To say they are glad to have come back here with their three young boys is an understatement.
I feel for every kind and sane American in this current situation - I can't see it resolving civilly. Take care, Elizabeth, and thinking of you. XXXX
Your cousin and his family is fortunate to have somewhere else to go, and I'm so glad they are in a safer place. Thank you for keeping us in circle of care. This is a time when I think thoughts and prayers really do have a place. Grateful you're still here, Prue. I know you're trying to choose your "exposures" judiciously. ❤️🩹
Quality writing, as always, Elizabeth. I admire the way you weave three sequences into one seamless whole, ultimately leading to this:
"The capacity to lead should be measured by moral courage, by a willingness to not just acknowledge harm but also take responsibility for it rather than deflect or deny it."
Thank you, Don. Apart from getting my feelings in order (phew!) putting them together on the page is the next hardest part. I'm grateful to know the sequence of stories here worked for you. And I'm even more grateful for your steady presence.
It’s been a hard long year… and we’re only two weeks or so into it! Sigh…. Another heartfelt post. Thanks so much Elizabeth. Take care of yourself. Please.
I do love "take care" as an expression of tenderness. It always feels like someone is giving me a gift from the heart. "Here...friend..I have something for you. Take care." Thank you, Beth.
"That same lack of regard can be catastrophic," ---perfectly stated. If the world continues to devalue human life (as well as redefine right and wrong, FFS), then where are we going?
In Colorado I loved an avid hunter and accompanied him so that I could be in those amazing, mountainous western Colorado woods for days at a time. I will never be the one with the gun, yet I grew to appreciate that we ate everything we harvested and gradually, those beautiful elk and deer were processed by us and us alone, filling our freezers, and always, always, thanking Mother Nature before we made the first move. They were a gift, as all life is a gift to the complex inner workings of this planet. To disregard any level of it is unconscionable. To disregard other members of the human race is even more so.
This is a GREAT piece of writing, Elizabeth. Thank you. ~J
I'll reiterate here what I wrote on the restack, Janice (thanks for that!): My word bank is insufficient to fully express the gratitude, and relief, I feel over how many of us are sharing the importance of respect, or similar messages. It's going to take every one of us doing a little more than we’re comfortable doing. Changing up how we navigate in our mess of humanity. Speaking up for others. And as a little pomegranate seed on top of this delicious comment, I'll add that “In Colorado I loved an avid hunter…” sounds like the start of one of your next books. Appreciate you, J.
A powerful, powerfully important piece, Elizabeth - gosh.
First you took me back to my childhood, when sometimes we'd share the back of Dad's rusty Landrover with the lambs he would be taking to the abattoir after he'd dropped us off at school. We were no strangers either to geese or chickens hanging up in the garage, and I'll always remember my favourite duck being taken by the fox (we always called it THE FOX, because 'a' fox was just not strong enough. We always our food with respect.
And second, gun violence - whether perpetrated by civilians or the state - is shocking to the core, absolutely. All violence. The world is terrifying.
So, can there a balance between death and destruction (a) and death and destruction (b)? Well, just gosh. So much to think about, Elizabeth - and wow, thank you for talking about this stuff. xxx
Great to see you, Rebecca, and thanks for the multi-pronged reply. You and I definitely have some similarities in our childhood experiences, though your family was much more hands-in-the-soil than mine.
As to more current chaos, THE FOX is in the henhouse!
I don’t think the alternative to death and destruction, or the absence of force, so much as the presence of care. Violence keeps coming back because it’s the easiest way to manage breakdown. The harder alternative is building institutions that can tolerate tension without deciding some people are expendable, systems that are built to keep people alive, dignified, and included, even when there’s conflict. How we get there I have no idea. Especially with so much ego and greed to contend with.
You ask if it is enough, to notice and care. I don't know, either. I think it likely isn't, but it's often all I can do. I'm so grateful for those who are doing more. Asking these questions is a way of doing more.
It's a start anyway. It means we're not pretending we can't see it, as though if we stop looking it will go away. Though clearly there are those doing SO MUCH more than I will ever manage, I know nothing is enough on its own. But if enough of us do at least a little, it might really matter. Thank you so much for the comment, Rita. I hope you're doing okay. ❤️🩹
"When you are that close to it, life is always brushing up against its end, and stewardship requires constant acknowledgment of what is fragile and finite."
For animals of all kind, even people. We are all so tender, so vulnerable. With Renee Good, we saw again, one moment, you're in the flow of life, and a moment later, it's extinguished. It happens after a long term of suffering, it happens by accident, it happens with a sudden stroke or heart attack, and it happens with violence. It happens with suicide. Here. Gone.
I too, feel that unless I'm willing to kill a chicken, or a cow, or a pig, I shall abstain. I'm not willing. So, I no longer eat meat. There are so many beautiful sentences in this essay. I grabbed the one above first, and as I progressed through the piece, I thought, "Oh, that one!" or "oooooh, no, this one." It's the best kind of read for me. Thanks, Elizabeth. xo
Life is truly and always one step away from death. We delude ourselves into believing we can plan our futures, and I suppose there's not a lot of harm (for most of us) in trying. But we have no control. All we can really direct is how we show up during the time we're here. I respect and admire your eating convictions, Nan. I don't expect everyone to draw hard lines in the sand, but I do wish there was more awareness of the decisions being made. In my work, I hear people decrying industrial farming. My favorite question to ask is "When's the last time you ate a rotisserie chicken?" 😬
I'm super grateful for your affirming comment, Nan. And I can't wait to join you all tomorrow!
I started reading your essay , thinking of my own relationship with wildlife as it pertains to my little gardens ( I bought a slingshot recently to fire acorns at marauding cats - not to hurt them , but to frighten them. I agonize over the taking of life , of all species , except ticks and mosquitoes…
Then , when your essay swings outwards , to Minneapolis , to the world :
I’m broken open . With rage and despair ,sadness for this country’s people , and a desire to see this madness end .
I appreciate that we align all the way through, Melody, and am so grateful for your steady presence here. I read today that 57% of surveyed Americans now oppose what ICE is doing, and I'm wondering why it's not 75 or 100%. Too many of us have been conditioned to believe that some lives are more important than others. Death is inevitable, yes, and violence has always been part of our history. But lack of respect is the dividing line. We can't ever let it stop mattering. Thank you for standing alongside me in this.
I’m with you. This is not what I expect my country to be.
This is not what our country *should* be, or at least not how it was envisioned by the framers (I always want to make that farmers) of the constitution. Thanks for weighing in, Janet.
Yes it must be hard for you,as you don't like killing.I don't like killing either l know it's for survival.Killing Is wrong cold blooded killing humans is evil ,and murder by a man who has orders to kill by idiots.l ask God where are you? Because I don't understand what is going on in his creation.Evil goes on with no justice being done .
It's incomprehensible, the levels of intentionally inflicted suffering. Though I know part of that is because we live here. The citizens of some countries have never known anything else. So, I suppose our current circumstances invite perspective, at least, and humility at a level many of us haven't experienced before. Certainly doesn't make it easy, or just.
Thank you so much for the comment, M H.
❤ Excellent!!!
Thank you, Barry. Hope you and yours are doing as well as can be expected in these times.
Thank you Elizabeth for your wise words. Your essays resonate deeply with my heart. You offer so much food for thought (no pun intended), and many lessons of 'attentiveness to tenderness'.
Thank you.
What a generous comment, Jeannine, thank you. And I also appreciate the restack. Your 'attentive tenderness' is just right, and I do love a well placed pun. Do take care. It's good to see you here.
our tax dollars supporting state sanctioned cold-blooded murder, with impunity and no investigation, is an outrage. Thanks for adding squirrely beauty to the darkness
Despite the preponderance of horrible news and the fallout from this administration's actions, it's still true that we are surrounded by blessings. Thanks for the comment, Stephanie.
You have captured an essential truth here, Elizabeth, contextualizing it in a way that all of us can visualize. Thank you for using your voice and your writing skills to send that truth into the world in another necessary way. All hands on deck. All voices arise!
Grateful for this comment and idea, Kim. And thank you for the restack.
I'm all in!
You know those amazing jumps that a squirrel can make from the tippy-tip of a branch of one tree to the tippy-tip branch of another? I love the leap you made from one part of your essay to the other. It's sobering. It's everywhere. Someone recently said "Humans have always been a mess; and we have always found the ballast to keep sailing." I think I just merged two quotes, but the idea is very Stoic: the world being a mess doesn't mean we change who we are and what we do to find good and promulgate joy.
Yes, Stew, and I love watching them make those dare devil moves! Thanks for letting me know the braiding here didn't fall flat.
Lacking the inclination to try for public office and with the realities of my circle of influence in mind, I don't always feel like I have much to offer in this struggle. But I can always, always be an ambassador for whatever it is that brings in more light.
Thanks so much for chiming in, as always.
All we can do is keep asking questions and remain true to our values. This time will pass. Let’s pray it’s soon. Thanks for always bringing up the challenging and thought provoking subjects.
Teresa, thank *you* for always reading carefully and offering generous reflections in response. It means so much that I can count on your input here. Soon...soon...may it be soon!
As an overseas reader whose opinions you already know, I really appreciate the fact that you are speaking out. It's time.
I was just speaking to a cousin who has spent 3 years living in Houston and whose wife is American. To say they are glad to have come back here with their three young boys is an understatement.
I feel for every kind and sane American in this current situation - I can't see it resolving civilly. Take care, Elizabeth, and thinking of you. XXXX
Your cousin and his family is fortunate to have somewhere else to go, and I'm so glad they are in a safer place. Thank you for keeping us in circle of care. This is a time when I think thoughts and prayers really do have a place. Grateful you're still here, Prue. I know you're trying to choose your "exposures" judiciously. ❤️🩹
Quality writing, as always, Elizabeth. I admire the way you weave three sequences into one seamless whole, ultimately leading to this:
"The capacity to lead should be measured by moral courage, by a willingness to not just acknowledge harm but also take responsibility for it rather than deflect or deny it."
Great writing!
Thank you, Don. Apart from getting my feelings in order (phew!) putting them together on the page is the next hardest part. I'm grateful to know the sequence of stories here worked for you. And I'm even more grateful for your steady presence.
It’s been a hard long year… and we’re only two weeks or so into it! Sigh…. Another heartfelt post. Thanks so much Elizabeth. Take care of yourself. Please.
I do love "take care" as an expression of tenderness. It always feels like someone is giving me a gift from the heart. "Here...friend..I have something for you. Take care." Thank you, Beth.
"That same lack of regard can be catastrophic," ---perfectly stated. If the world continues to devalue human life (as well as redefine right and wrong, FFS), then where are we going?
In Colorado I loved an avid hunter and accompanied him so that I could be in those amazing, mountainous western Colorado woods for days at a time. I will never be the one with the gun, yet I grew to appreciate that we ate everything we harvested and gradually, those beautiful elk and deer were processed by us and us alone, filling our freezers, and always, always, thanking Mother Nature before we made the first move. They were a gift, as all life is a gift to the complex inner workings of this planet. To disregard any level of it is unconscionable. To disregard other members of the human race is even more so.
This is a GREAT piece of writing, Elizabeth. Thank you. ~J
I'll reiterate here what I wrote on the restack, Janice (thanks for that!): My word bank is insufficient to fully express the gratitude, and relief, I feel over how many of us are sharing the importance of respect, or similar messages. It's going to take every one of us doing a little more than we’re comfortable doing. Changing up how we navigate in our mess of humanity. Speaking up for others. And as a little pomegranate seed on top of this delicious comment, I'll add that “In Colorado I loved an avid hunter…” sounds like the start of one of your next books. Appreciate you, J.
You bring me wisdom and joy and smiles while opening my mind. Keep those suggestions coming, please....the appreciation is mutual. ~J
A powerful, powerfully important piece, Elizabeth - gosh.
First you took me back to my childhood, when sometimes we'd share the back of Dad's rusty Landrover with the lambs he would be taking to the abattoir after he'd dropped us off at school. We were no strangers either to geese or chickens hanging up in the garage, and I'll always remember my favourite duck being taken by the fox (we always called it THE FOX, because 'a' fox was just not strong enough. We always our food with respect.
And second, gun violence - whether perpetrated by civilians or the state - is shocking to the core, absolutely. All violence. The world is terrifying.
So, can there a balance between death and destruction (a) and death and destruction (b)? Well, just gosh. So much to think about, Elizabeth - and wow, thank you for talking about this stuff. xxx
Great to see you, Rebecca, and thanks for the multi-pronged reply. You and I definitely have some similarities in our childhood experiences, though your family was much more hands-in-the-soil than mine.
As to more current chaos, THE FOX is in the henhouse!
I don’t think the alternative to death and destruction, or the absence of force, so much as the presence of care. Violence keeps coming back because it’s the easiest way to manage breakdown. The harder alternative is building institutions that can tolerate tension without deciding some people are expendable, systems that are built to keep people alive, dignified, and included, even when there’s conflict. How we get there I have no idea. Especially with so much ego and greed to contend with.
You ask if it is enough, to notice and care. I don't know, either. I think it likely isn't, but it's often all I can do. I'm so grateful for those who are doing more. Asking these questions is a way of doing more.
It's a start anyway. It means we're not pretending we can't see it, as though if we stop looking it will go away. Though clearly there are those doing SO MUCH more than I will ever manage, I know nothing is enough on its own. But if enough of us do at least a little, it might really matter. Thank you so much for the comment, Rita. I hope you're doing okay. ❤️🩹
"When you are that close to it, life is always brushing up against its end, and stewardship requires constant acknowledgment of what is fragile and finite."
For animals of all kind, even people. We are all so tender, so vulnerable. With Renee Good, we saw again, one moment, you're in the flow of life, and a moment later, it's extinguished. It happens after a long term of suffering, it happens by accident, it happens with a sudden stroke or heart attack, and it happens with violence. It happens with suicide. Here. Gone.
I too, feel that unless I'm willing to kill a chicken, or a cow, or a pig, I shall abstain. I'm not willing. So, I no longer eat meat. There are so many beautiful sentences in this essay. I grabbed the one above first, and as I progressed through the piece, I thought, "Oh, that one!" or "oooooh, no, this one." It's the best kind of read for me. Thanks, Elizabeth. xo
Life is truly and always one step away from death. We delude ourselves into believing we can plan our futures, and I suppose there's not a lot of harm (for most of us) in trying. But we have no control. All we can really direct is how we show up during the time we're here. I respect and admire your eating convictions, Nan. I don't expect everyone to draw hard lines in the sand, but I do wish there was more awareness of the decisions being made. In my work, I hear people decrying industrial farming. My favorite question to ask is "When's the last time you ate a rotisserie chicken?" 😬
I'm super grateful for your affirming comment, Nan. And I can't wait to join you all tomorrow!
Thanks, Elizabeth...Can't wait til tomorrow. It's a big deal, this adventure I'm on. xo
Wow. Just Wow.
I started reading your essay , thinking of my own relationship with wildlife as it pertains to my little gardens ( I bought a slingshot recently to fire acorns at marauding cats - not to hurt them , but to frighten them. I agonize over the taking of life , of all species , except ticks and mosquitoes…
Then , when your essay swings outwards , to Minneapolis , to the world :
I’m broken open . With rage and despair ,sadness for this country’s people , and a desire to see this madness end .
I appreciate that we align all the way through, Melody, and am so grateful for your steady presence here. I read today that 57% of surveyed Americans now oppose what ICE is doing, and I'm wondering why it's not 75 or 100%. Too many of us have been conditioned to believe that some lives are more important than others. Death is inevitable, yes, and violence has always been part of our history. But lack of respect is the dividing line. We can't ever let it stop mattering. Thank you for standing alongside me in this.