consent a year and a half ago

A year and a half ago outside the San Diego Zoo i overheard a loud exchange of verbal accusations.  i turned to look and saw a husband and wife arguing.  i was walking in front of them and decided to slow down to let them catch up after hearing the woman tell the man not to be angry.  He replied back to her that he would continue to be angry.

Most people would not involve themselves in a discussion of this sort but my advocates training kicked in when i asked him "Why Angry?" as they caught up to me.  He replied that he liked to win and being angry helped him win.  i asked him why he liked to win and he said because it made him feel good.  i asked if he ever wondered how those he was angry at felt and he said he didn't care how they felt because he had won.
i suggested that winning wasn't necessarily going to make his life better and in fact might make it less harmonious.  i suggested that maybe it might make the other person less apt to help him and more apt to try and thwart his efforts.  i asked him if he didn't think that gaining her consent would accomplish more than just winning.  He claimed he was like a peacock needing to display.



We talked a whole lot more about how to gain consent, and what it meant to have an equal say during an argument when the woman said you know it is Sunday.  i hadn't thought at all about what day it was, i don't normally give sermons, i just wanted to diffuse something that looked like it was going to explode. After talking for quite a while, the man said, you know you have made me look at this differently  I'm going to have to think about this in more depth.  His wife thanked me and so did the man as we all walked off smiling.  As i walked away i thought to myself i hope he understands that his beauty and happiness lies deep within his behavior.

Problems arrive in order to push us toward making choices voluntarily.  Rousing people from their apathy or anger to get them to think may sometimes seem to come into conflict with a loving attitude.  Preventing one from hurting another is a loving thing to do.  Remaining silent when those around you may need you to interfere prolongs injustice.  Next time you see a situation where you can make a difference, don't walk away from it, engage as politely as you can.

And now for one of my goofy poems that should be read like a run on sentence.  i wrote this after having a conversation with my mom.

its not roe or caviar                               

ovoid shaped food
laid by a female
and eaten for millennia
is in the news,
maybe the small rodents
left behind salmonella
in their
poop, or
bigger flapping entities
may have been sick
and left behind salmonella
in their eggs, maybe
the feathered
creatures have
eaten unhealthy foodstuffs
that contained salmonella, so
now we don't want to
eat the white spheroid
shapes resting in cardboard
and plastic
cartons in our refrigerator,
we don't want to
get sick, but we don't
want to waste either
its not roe or caviar
you know, so
toss it.

The picture to the right is one i took looking into the pool.  It is natures example of an ant colony working together to stay alive.  If you double click on it you will see that they have land in the shape of the leaf and they have a food source, the wasp at the bottom.  They link their legs to stay afloat and can do this for as long as it takes to find solid ground.  Ants are fascinating creatures but not when they are invading your home.  These Crazy Harry(hairy) Ants are taking over St. Croix and their resilience just astounds me.