The ironies of reason and rationality

In preparing for my Phd General exams next month, I have just come across a text that perhaps I should have read months ago. It's somewhat irrelevant for what I want to say here which text it is, since it has only confirmed things that I have been reflecting upon and reading about since first embarking into Animal Studies and all topics connected to it just about a year ago.

The unfortunate thing is, I'm sure most of you who just read that last sentence have now had some form of the thought, "Oh, so she works with animals, or on animal ethics." Yes, but no. The thing is, and what this text I'm in the middle of is making glaringly obvious, is that we don't get to choose between animals or humans. We need them and their environment (which just so happens to be our own, too) and yet they are completely disregarded by us in the ways that the Western world deals with them and with their bodies. We are trashing the earth (whether we see it or not) and as soon as they are gone, we will be soon to follow. "What of science?" you ask. Well, the thing this text is reminding me is that we haven't actually adapted to our changing environment. We still eat the most meat in the world in the US (by a LANDSLIDE.) and are so used to being able to buy strawberries whether it's Christmas or summer that we don't contemplate what it means to produce or import them from the places that can grow these things off-season. If we expected to outlive animals (which we clearly do, given the amount of information out there that tens if not hundreds of species will go extinct in less than 50 years, but we continue to live life as usual) then we should probably consider adapting. Science and knowledge won't help us if we refuse alternative types of nutrition. This is a complex issue, but it's pivotal to the existence of animals and its impact on the existence of humans.

To "love animals" is, in our culture, often connected to emotions, and not in a good way. Consider the tone people take when they say things like, "Oh, she's just being a woman." or "Stop being a girl about it!" Read="She's being emotional, and thus she must be acting "like a woman"...because men have never experienced a freaking emotion in their life! Or, "Stop being weak already!" I'm sorry, but I think one of the biggest reasons our society has so much trouble with the LGBT community and issues related to this, as well as women and animals, is that the "rationalism" that infuses every inch of our capitalist culture is only allowed to come from the hetero, white, Western man. Why are men considered to be less emotional or connected to their bodies, when it seems that they are so much less in control of their physicality, sexuality, etc. than women? Women can go weeks without sex, thank you very much, but a man? Oh, no. Because this is, after all, what has always been meant when people say men are "more rational". They can control themselves better. Then what do we make of Caesar's murder, or Jesus' death on the cross (whether you believe he was resurrected or not), or perhaps cops killing non-cops? I just don't see the line of reasoning. The problem is, what is "rational" doesn't actually employ reason. It is working out of a broken system that idolizes physical, financial, and social power - a power, let's be clear, that is only attainable by a small percentage of huge populations.

These thoughts are coming out quicker than I can edit them properly, but I am so worked up about it that I need them to be read. So me, it's obvious that things need to give in our attitude towards how we use nature and non-human beings. I would also put forth that it's about time we start respecting all the other human beings around us, but this issue is one that I must leave in the previous paragraph. The ecological crisis was likened in the text I'm reading to the Titanic. I will close with this quote, for fear of becoming so convoluted in my thoughts that it becomes completely unintelligible.

"...we have received the iceberg warning, and have made the remarkable decision to double the engine speed to Full Speed Ahead and go below to get a good night's rest. A change of course might be bad for business, we might have to slow down, lose time. Nothing, not even the ultimate risk of the death of nature, can be allowed to hold back the triumphant progress of the ship of rational fools."       (Emphasis mine.)

-Val Plumwood, Environmental Culture: The ecological crisis of reason

Things I need to get off my chest...

The season of Lent began last Wednesday, and I had no idea what to give up. I've decided to attempt being more positive. My schedule has been a total thrash the past few months, and it's made me too quick to take the low, bad-attitude road.

Now that I've said that, a few not-so-positive thoughts have been swimming in my head lately, and I really just need to get them out.

1. The Oscars are not necessarily the place to raise awareness, but sometimes it happens to happen there. Just because the thing you wanted awareness raised for didn't get "recognized" (though it's already pretty damn amazing to even be nominated...but you're right, winning is the only answer) doesn't mean it isn't something that was not worthy of it, or that something else wasn't also worthy of getting recognized. Try putting yourself in the shoes of the people who were recognized, and just have some empathetic happiness for them.

I would also guess that many of the people who are making the comments I'm referencing likely have only seen the movie they wanted to win. While this certainly isn't an isolated case, I just feel like we shouldn't really criticize until we know what it is we're criticizing (and not just something that isn't what we saw and liked already). It would also be helpful to understand the historical and cultural contexts (when they apply, and Lord knows they did for most of the nominations this year) that these films are coming from. Again, they all were deserving of recognition, and I believe that by being nominated they did get at least a portion of that.

(One optimistic Oscar comment: I sure hope that more young people are aware of the Sound of Music is! Loved that tribute, loved Lady Gaga's performance, loved Julie Andrews' reaction. And of course, love that classic musical.)

2. People driving 10+ miles over the speed limit who do things like passing in the merging lane just drive me crazy. I don't understand how their life and the lives of the people in the other cars don't mean enough to them to just have some patience. Again, if we could imagine what we would feel like if someone did whatever we're thinking about doing back to us, it might make us think twice about it.

That is all for my rant. I have already noticed a huge boost in energy and attitude from just trying to be more positive, but these things have been weighing on me as I've driven to and from Park & Rides and watched peoples' reactions on Facebook to the Oscars. Let's try to empathize and think twice.

Taking time to come to His shelter

Despite the fact that I have little time to spare in this last (!!! YES!!!) week of Fall Quarter, I am feeling that it is important that I take a few moments to reflect upon the past few months. It has been a whirlwind: buying a house, starting my 2nd year towards a PhD, having bought a house, dealing with a new commute, dealing with having bought a house...basically the house has crammed my ever-busy-bein' mind to the gills. And often, that has not been a happy place for me to be. Today, however, after months of others being so happy and excited for this new step in our lives (and now that most of the place is looking lived-in!), I really am thankful for this home. It has taught me some surprising things:

1. It is important to go with the flow. Even if this means literally, going with the flow of rain that lets you know of the tiny holes in your roof and the water coming out of your dishwasher. Because, in my charmed life, I am married to and the daughter-in-law of two Handymen who will not only fix the roof in an afternoon, but find a gently-used, good-lookin' dishwasher to replace the old one just by remodeling a kitchen. Actually, we were on the receiving end of three such appliances from the same job! So going with the flow, while challenging mentally, can pay off. And if it doesn't literally pay off, your patience (for yourself, another person or a certain type of situation or disaster) will grow.

2. Sweeping twice a day, everyday really isn't all that bad. Our little house is all hard-floored. This is great on the one hand, since you can't sweep carpet and with two cats, fur accumulates way too fast. However, since we have outside-entrances on either side of the house (and the most-often used is on the kitchen-side), dirt accumulates quickly. However, because our home is quite small, it takes me all of about 15 minutes to sweep and clean the cat box (another one of my favorite daily chores). So, really, I can't complain or make many logical excuses to not just pick up the goshdurned broom and sing a little Mary Poppins tune while I sweep (though luckily, not the chimney!).

3. A woodstove isn't magic, and requires a LOT of poking and prodding...but I CAN make a fire! Our house is only heated by our trusty woodstove, since two of three wallheaters are kaputt and we don't really care to spend money to repair an inefficient source of energy. As a result, these cold snaps Seattle has been experiencing have provided some lessons in patience. Initially, the dry wood that we had abounded and we still had lots of newspaper. Now, however, we still have lots of wood but much of it hasn't had the time it would like to dry properly, making it difficult to really get a fire going, and definitely to keep it going. However, I do know how to make and maintain a fire, now!

4. New space, new pace -- and lots of grace! With a new commute that requires me to be away by 6:15am five days per week, I am usually hitting a pretty big energy wall by around 2pm. I also have what feels like five more excuses to lounge around doing nothing all evening every evening. However, the quarter system scoffs at such behavior no matter what time you get up, and so Michael and I are finally getting adjusted to these types of changes in our life. He has been trying to get up earlier so that he comes home earlier, too, making it more doable to eat dinner together and both get to sleep at a decent hour. These are hard habits to create, though, so we are trying to give ourselves and each other grace in the process. We have been working to notice the lessons it's teaching us and to talk about it all to avoid bottling up every little annoyance, and that seems to be working quite well.

All in all, I am reflecting today on the things I am grateful for, though I too often choose to think about the things that I wish were more balanced or more easily taken care of. We both have jobs and incomes, families that are nearby, and a home that we know will be quite nearly perfect for us quite soon. God always seems to want to teach you one more lesson than you think you are capable of learning, but we aim to learn despite ourselves. Today, may we all come into the Lord's shelter -- whatever that may mean for you at this moment. Some of us literally need physical shelter today, but others might need shelter from hunger, anxiety, prejudice...really anything can bring us to our knees and needing help. Seek His arms, for He longs to shelter you.

Two pages in

Since my last post, Michael and I have bought a house, moved, and I have started my second year at the University of Washington. This morning, however, I write because I need to share something that I am feeling, and that I know I will continue to feel and encounter for the next three years, given my chosen course of research and work.

This morning, I am putting together the first draft of a reading list for my Critical Animal Studies exam, which will take place in the Spring. I've just cracked open the introduction to Matthew Scully's book, Dominion, which is a call to compassion and our nature-given (or God-given, as I believe he also strongly asserts) duty to animals.

I have read two pages, and I am heartbroken. Think about what you eat and where it comes from today. Reflect upon and wonder at the clothes you wear and the shoes you covet, and how they might be made. If this brings you to consider things like sweat shops and less-than minimum wage jobs, that's not a bad thing, either. Our consumption of food and of things has increased to the point that we engender horrific conditions and circumstances in order to meet these "needs".

I'm sure you're all excited for the weekend; I am too. But today please, feel something for these living, breathing beings that are, grossly more often than not, treated more like a machine than what they are. This brings me to mourning, but it also urges me, cries out to me to work each day to ask questions and to respect the beings that surround me and that are often hidden from me in the interest of production.

Hope or despair: the problem with credit and the hope of Psalm 49

I want to start by saying that I realize that many of my posts seem very cynical of the current generation. I'm part of this generation and I teach the generation that's following me (or half-generation, since they are still only 7 or so years younger, generally). This does not give me any kind of major authority, since I have only lived in a handful of cities and taught/studied at even fewer universities. I also realize that, as a Christian, I may sometimes say things that seem a bit too much like a blanket-statement. Of course, in this area, too, I am no expert. However, the evil in our world grieves me greatly, and this is one of the spaces where I try to voice that grief, while also hoping to show that I am trying to choose hope. Having said all of this, I hope you'll take my words with a grain of salt, whether you read from the perspective of a Christian or not.

The past few weeks have held many lessons for me. Each "problem" (read=teachable moment/lesson) has ended up prompting the same question: do I choose hope or despair? In the world we live in and the culture it fuels, despair (the big brother to disappointment, in my opinion) is rampant. The average person is so distracted by what they do not have and by what they wish they had that they a) are not focused on the present, thus likely missing many wonderful moments, and b) often go to ridiculous lengths to get/attain these things or "statii". Credit, often seeming to be the "key" to getting what we want without actually being able to afford it, is at once an awesome and terrifying thing, but rarely now do people fully understand what it means to use it well. I mean no disrespect to those who have had to use it more than they would have liked to, because I have, too. Everything is more expensive these days, and what our parents were able to do at 30 is not as easy for us. However, the laziness that plagues our culture doesn't leave much space, if any, for the 20- and 30-somethings (not to mention the teenagers with iPhones and credit cards lining their bookbags) to work out just how to get un-hitched from credit as the first "solution" to this imbalance.

This week, my devotional has been focusing on Psalm 49. For the issue of money and wealth, these verses are pretty powerful for the encouragement they give to those who haven't "hit it big"...meaning the majority of us! (Though it does paint the wealthy in quite a cynical light.) At the time this psalm was written, I can only imagine how wide the gap of physical/living condition comfort was between those who were not a king, politician, or successful tradesman and those men who were. Many of those who struggle greatly to make ends meet in our current society still come home at the end of the day in their own car to a roof over their head and food on the table. Even they often despair. But for them and for those with no home, no car, and likely no food on a regular basis, the psalmist encourages:

Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. (12-13) 

But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed--and though you get praise when you do well for yourself--his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. (15-19)

These words encourage and sustain me, today. Michael and I are in the process of buying a home, and this is a huge change. There will be many adjustments, and quite possibly some unsettling moments financially. I believe that we have prepared as well as we could, but it is easy to get distracted by the potential of unexpected expenses or repairs. So, I ask God to help me focus instead on what I have and the grace He has given us.

I pray that you choose hope today. I also try to practice joy and patience, but I find them to often be natural outpourings of hope! Bless you.