Mother Love, All Around.

We all have a mother...

Happy Mothers' Day,

from the

Beasts!

The Longest, Beastliest Night

Tonight is Winter Solstice, the Longest Night of the year. Indeed, this particular Solstice is the Longest Night EVER.

This makes sense to the Beasts and Magical Beings I live with. They see it is a Dark Time (in many senses) in America. There are many ways that many human "Giants" are suffering. Many are:

Hungry (in a land of plenty).

Homeless (in a land of innumerable buildings).

Jobless (in a "land of opportunity").

None of this makes any sense to the Beasts and Beings. They can see that this land has more than enough for all.

Harsh and unnecessary as these things are, the very 

Darkest Shadow 

in America is this: Innocent people are being 

Killed 

(in a land of "liberty and justice for all").

These deaths are all the more tragic because they are due to something as arbitrary as this:

The (conscious or unconscious) devaluing of others based on something--pigment!--that is literally skin-deep.

You can imagine how they react to that.

Yet Beasts and Beings trust in Nature. One of Nature's surest forces is balance. Nothing is static; the pendulum always swings.

Heat cools. Cold warms.

Darkness lightens.

We are in a time of Darkness. We need not fear--if we follow the Beastly Way.

Which is:

Plunge into the Darkness,

            Plumb its depths,

Embrace the Shadows we meet there.

Ask questions, of ourselves and others:

What have we done? What can we do?

We must see and acknowledge the Truth in the Dark 

so we can find our way to Light.

There is one more Beastly Lesson for us:

On this Longest of Nights, at this Darkest of Times,

The Way will be Shorter, and the Light will be Brighter,

If we go into the Dark together.

Look Closely...

Look closely...

With the eyes of a Beast...

Believe it or not...

It's SPRING!!!

Solstice Watch

The days have grown shorter and darker.

The weather, colder and starker.

Leaf colors have changed in progression,
Then each leaf has left in succession.

We huddle close, to thwart the chill.

But the world grows colder and dimmer still.

We long for warmth, a cheerful glow...

But we are met with gloom and snow.

When things seem bleak as they can get...

We realize it's not even WINTER yet!

And we have many months ahead,

When all is deep and dark and dead.

The powers of night and ice are combined,

And seem inextricably intertwined.

Nature led their paths to merge--

But now she leads them to diverge.

When Winter's sleigh arrives in dark,

Its icy runners emit a spark:

And we see that Winter's frosty trail 

Will take us through ice and storm and hail,

Where the temperatures plunge, and wild winds bite--

But it also brings us back the light.

Beastly Solstice, all!

Beastly Shadows

Do not deny your Shadow.

However huge it may seem.

No need to fear your Shadows,

However many there be.

Your Shadow sides are part of you,
Connected to the rest.

If you turn from them, so you see only light,
Others see them, nonetheless.

Beasts know it's better to dance with them,
To learn from Shadow play.

Tonight is a night for Shadows.
Let them out! Let them have their way!

Beasts know that embracing Shadow
Is not forsaking what's right.

For Shadows are not of the Dark.

The only exist in the Light.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BeFriend the shadow,

And the shadow will be friend.

The Beasts Learn More Vile Facts About the US Government Shutdown

Here we are, 12 days in, and the Beasts and magical Beings I live with are still trying to understand the Shutdown.

They have even more trouble getting it than the human "Giants" in our household. After all, we "Giants"--as they call us humans--at least have some context. We (sadly) are used to politics--and the politicians who perpetrate them.

But this idiocy is completely alien to Beasts. See, in the Beastly world, it is understood that no one can go it alone.

So everyone helps each other.

They share.

They want everyone to be happy and well-cared-for.

They know, instinctively, that this is the key to survival.

And just as importantly, it's the key to happiness.

Most of the Beasts and magical Beings have thrown up their hands about the Giant Eejits in Washington, assuming (correctly) that they will never understand.

But Friend hasn't.

(And not just because he doesn't have hands. 
He thinks he can BeFriend Congress, 
and get them to act Beastly. 
How I wish he could!)

Burlie hasn't given up, either.

He is determined to understand...

...no matter how stupid it is.

My housemates and I were watching the news, and he came in and asked us about the Shutdown.

Are we SURE, he asked us, that the Giant Eejits shut down the government on purpose??? They didn't do it by mistake?

They may yet decide it was a mistake, one of my housemates told him, but they definitely did it on purpose. They planned it for months. Dave then read to Burlie from the New York Times: In a lovely Valentine to America, dozens of "conservative" groups (who are anything but) signed on to a February 14 letter outlining the plan to derail the Affordable Care Act at all costs.

Are we SURE, he asked us, that the Giant Eejits shut down the government...because they wanted to stop everyone from getting healthcare?

Yes, we told him. That's what they said. Unless the president agreed to defund the Affordable Care Act, they would defund the government.

He didn't, so they did.

What's that about? Burlie wondered. Don't they believe in healthcare? Healthcare is good!

(See  "Beastly Ears" for more on this.)

They do believe in healthcare, we told him. They all have excellent healthcare.

So...they are just against OTHERS having healthcare? THAT can't be.

We told him that, yes, that was really pretty much it. Basically, they think it costs too much for everyone to have healthcare. They also believe -- as indicated in that self-same letter (and for reasons they do not bother to explain) -- that the Affordable Care Act "is an unprecedented attack on life and religious liberty."

This left Burlie stunned. 

(That's hard to do.)

But it never lasts long. He was soon hopping mad.

(We decided to tell him about the whole debt-limit thing another day.)

US Government Shutdown: A Beastly Take

Trying to explain the concept of "government" to free Beasts is...challenging.

They finally (sort of) got it when one of my housemates explained that we "Giants" (as they call us humans) empower other Giants to:


(1) Get Things Done.

-and- 

(2) Help Americans.

THAT made sense.

So they were mystified when the US Government "shut down." They clearly saw that Shutdown means:

(1) Things DON'T Get Done. 

-and-

(2) This HURTS Americans.

And when the Beasts heard that the reason the government shut down was because one gang of American Giants with healthcare didn't like a Law designed to Help all American Giants get healthcare, they were incensed!

So, they asked...you mean the Help-American-Giants-Get-Healthcare Law was STOPPED by a few Giant Eejits who didn't want it to be a Law?

No, we told them. The Law went into effect, as scheduled, at Midnight, October 1....

...at exactly the same moment those Giants shut down the government.

So, shutting down the government...didn't get the Giant Eejits what they wanted...AND hurt those they are supposed to Help?

Right, we told them. 

They tried to make sense of this...

...and failed. 

At this rate, they will never understand our world.

(I can't say they are alone in that. Neither do many of us "Giants.")