Blessings are conditional. However we think of them, and wherever we think they originate, blessings are gifts – special graces – which we can accept and discard. That is in our gift. We have the right of refusal. Blessed with love, we cannot take our lovers and loved ones for granted. We cannot take without giving in return. The gift of love is not a certificate of ownership. Likewise, the blessing and gift of life is conditional. Its continuation and renewal always and everywhere depend on our generous acceptance of the gift and our loving care for the blessing.
Why Would a Tory have Compassion for an Animal?
It’s no mystery that our Tory masters have reduced animals to things incapable of feeling pain or thinking thoughts in order to exploit nature – and profit from it – as much as they possibly can. Killing beasts and people is always about pennies, albeit millions and millions of pennies – but pennies nonetheless. Why wouldn’t they do this to animals? If you can be so cruel to a defenceless animal you can do the same to a child.
Goldilocks, the Drake Equation, and Animals
Our destruction, violence, and cruelty in the world we live should shock us and make us anxious. Why would we never consider it on another world? Is it is the case that the grass is always purpler the other side?
Having at Last Caught my Tail
Follow @UrFhasaidh Over the past couple of weeks I have felt like a dog chasing its tail; round and round trying to get a hold on all the things that went up in the air the moment I left for Belgium. There are times when I like to think that I am organised, and I … Continue reading Having at Last Caught my Tail
Why is the Liberties Initiative Sneering at the Liberties?
The Liberties initiative – or “libertiesdublin.ie” – says on its website that “Over 23,000 residents live within the 1km square area” of the Liberties, but ignores the harsh realities of child poverty, food poverty, drug addiction, and suicide among other things, and it does this because it is a business initiative.
Murdering Cecil the Lion: Beauty and the Beast
In the name of sport Palmer, aided by other barbaric poachers, lured Cecil out of his reserve in order to shoot him with an arrow! An arrow! This great white hunter was such an expert with his He-Man toy that Cecil was not killed, but spent the next forty hours in atrocious pain and running for his life until he was eventually tracked down and shot dead with a rifle.
Two Little Birds and Other Islands in the Hebrides
Canaries and budgies have long been favoured pets by ordinary people all over the place. In times gone by canaries were a favourite in the coal mines where they would act as an early warning system for the miners – by alerting them to the presence of poisonous gas by falling off their perches dead. … Continue reading Two Little Birds and Other Islands in the Hebrides
Another Brilliant Adventure of Skye the Parakeet
Follow @UrFhasaidh Skye has been uncharacteristically sociable of late. On his escapes from his cage he has taken to landing on the desk and playing with pens and assaulting the laptop screen. He hasn’t behaved like this since before he got himself a girlfriend. At first I thought that this was a sign that he … Continue reading Another Brilliant Adventure of Skye the Parakeet
Random Public Journal 