I read something extremely disturbing the other day. It was about
greyhounds. Not the buses. The dogs.
Greyhounds are fast. Because of this, people naturally race them. And
bet on them. And because people suck, when a greyhound is injured or too old to
race anymore, that dog is left to die or simply killed in one of several often
gruesome ways, including shooting, clubbing or throwing it into the water for
shark bait. These dogs are beautiful, loving animals that can think on about
the same level as a four- or five-year-old kid. And we’re doing crap like this
to them. Pardon my language, but come the crap on! We do this to other dogs and
also cats as well, in a more “humane” way, but this seems especially egregious.
Dogs are thinking, feeling beings (as anyone who has ever owned a dog can tell
you) and we are murdering them in cold blood because of money. Got to keep
those profits high, keep the customers happy, keep the costs down. “We must
keep the money machine going.”
Things like this really get my attention these days, because this kind
of thing is allowed in the same world as the one in which my wife and I are
trying to raise a little girl.
I read something else disturbing the other day. It was about this whole
flap about Kevin Pietersen being allowed back in the England cricket team (“reintegrated”)
after a process of reconciliation. Never mind how disturbing it is that they
are using terms normally associated with quite important things…like
reintegrating prisoners back into society, and seeking reconciliation between perpetrators
of genocide and their victims. Basically
what this all comes down to is that KP is a spoiled brat with an ego the size
of the moon, and he keeps showing it. But so do many of his teammates, who are
jealous of his success and talent. The England and Wales Cricket Board, after
many bouts of ham-handed foot-in-mouth disease, has now spent all kinds of time
and money on an issue which really boils down to egotistical little boys
fighting on a playground. Nobody seems to be able to stop and say “This is a
sport—a game, for crying out loud. Just play it and stop all the nonsense.”
Except it isn’t just a game or sport any more—at least, not at this level. It
is a money machine, both legal (sponsorship deals, ticket sales, etc) and
illegitimate (gambling, etc.) so people think the stakes are too high. “We must
keep the money machine going.” And while the ECB and KP and everyone else
spends untold gobs of money traveling, meeting, reporting, covering, discussing
and negotiating, hundreds of thousands of people face imminent starvation in
Somalia, hundreds have died so far in floods in Nigeria and humanitarian crises
loom in Afghanistan and Syria. But that isn’t important. What is important is
that KP wants a lot of money. The ECB wants a lot of money. People will pay a
lot of money to see KP. People will pay to read about KP. Let’s not move on to
something important and ignore these tantrums (on both sides of the issue). “We
must keep the money machine going.”
Things like this really get my attention these days, because this kind
of thing is allowed in the same world as the one in which my wife and I are
trying to raise a little girl.
This talk of reintegration and reconciliation in the England cricket
team brings to mind an issue in my home state of Indiana. Something else I find
disturbing. The Christian denomination to which I belong is undergoing a split—or,
as we are calling it, a “reconfiguration.” Indiana Yearly Meeting—a part of the
Friends, or Quaker, denomination—is splitting over issues like interpretation of
the Bible and homosexuality. We have spent years arguing over this. We have
spent the past couple of years talking and arguing and saying really hateful
and mean things to one another. We are splitting because some churches don’t
want to be associated with other churches (or, Meetings as we call them) who
would welcome and affirm LGBT folks as equals in Christian fellowship. The
people think that being even tenuously connected to people who tolerate gays
means they are going to Hell. Meanwhile, the United States has the highest
child poverty rate in the developed world, we have mass shootings occurring
every year and some jerk in Texas recently “lynched” an empty chair
representing the president of our country—calling to mind racist acts of the
past where people were hanged simply because of their race. In DR Congo people
are enslaved and killed over a precious metal we all need in our mobile
phones—and that’s the only place to get it. But talk on. We are too busy being
right and kicking out people who don’t agree with us to worry about such
things. Jersey Shore is on the TV, followed by a televangelist, then we need to
text someone about donuts and it will be time to go to bed feeling
self-righteous. And our denomination isn’t the only one. Many people can’t let
go, forgive and move on because to them Christianity is a Thing. A business. A
growing business. A successful cultural machine. In other words, a money
machine. “We must keep the money machine going.”
Things like this really get my attention these days, because this kind
of thing is allowed in the same world as the one in which my wife and I are
trying to raise a little girl.
I shudder to think about a future conversation I might have with our little
girl.
Her: “Daddy, why did they do that?”
Me: “I don’t know, honey. I guess those people didn’t like (fill in the
blank).”
Her: “It was awfully mean.”
Me: “Yes. Yes it was.”
Her: “So if I don’t like (fill in the blank), can I (shoot/kick
out/berate/bribe) those people?
Me: “No, honey, that wouldn’t be right.”
Her: “Who would stop me?”
Me: “Well, I guess mommy and me.”
Her: But why didn’t you stop (fill in the blank?)”
Me: Silence.
What will my answer be?
Me: “Um, let’s go outside and play some cricket, honey.”
Her: “Later, Daddy. First why don’t you answer my question?”
Me: Silence.
So what would your answer be?
For that question there really is no answer, is there?
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