February 4, 2013

• Worms

  Worms

  Winston Churchill said, I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. I wonder how Mr. Churchill felt about people? Thoughts are different from feelings. Most folks are more comfortable with thinking than they are with feeling, so they bring thoughts to the tops of their heads and stuff their uncomfortable feelings way down deep in dark places inside themselves. This can be problematic. What we can't see, don't know and are unwilling to acknowledge, has power over us. The reason we stuff uncomfortable feelings is so we don't have to acknowledge, see or know about them. Sometimes that's like trying to get those springy worm things back in the can after we open it and they all come, well, springing out. The difference is the feelings with which we are most uncomfortable are usually venomous while those springy worm things that come in a can are nearly harmless. I mean a Red Ryder BB Gun might put an eye out, but I've never heard of a movie about springy worm things that come in a can putting anyone's eye out. If you have I'd like to hear about it. Even the famous (or infamous if you're on the gun control band wagon) Red Ryder BB Gun couldn't put an eye out without some help from a human, unlike those horrible guns that go around killing people everywhere these days. I have this movie in my head where psychotic guns roam the streets, malls and schools of America indiscriminately shooting people. They drag behind them some poor schmuck who they use as their patsy (a person who is easily taken advantage of, especially by being cheated or blamed for something). When the psychotic gun's barrel is heated up and it's low on ammunition it turns on the patsy it's been dragging behind it and finally kills him. Please don't take offense when I define words. It's not that I think you don't know what the word means. It's that I think the meaning of words is being hijacked for propaganda purposes. Since people so often get pissed off and like to attach their rage to words, I'd like them to know exactly what I'm talking about when they decide I'm the anti-Christ. Personally I've never thought that much of myself and the flattery is wasted on me because I don't much care what other's think of me either. Fatal flaw? It's one I can die with.

  Winston Churchill was a politician. I like the idea of Winston Churchill, but I don't know if I'd like Winston Churchill himself. It's kind of like marriage. People like the idea of marriage, but the divorce rate nationwide is over fifty percent. I'm thinking the idea was easier to have than the marriage. Back to Sir Winston. I'd like to overlook the fact that he was a politician, because I think politicians and pigs have far too much in common. The idea of Winston Churchill that I entertain is that he was a statesman, not a politician. What's the difference? I'm so glad you asked. According to my desktop dictionary a politician is a person who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a candidate for an elected office. Interesting thought. Not very interesting, but there it is. Government was much more honest before politicians were professionals. They used to do it as a duty and service to the country. Once money entered into the equation the people who became politicians did it for the money and not duty and service. That's when they had to add the second definition to the dictionary. This second definition feels more accurate to me. A person who acts in a manipulative and devious way, typically to gain advancement within an organization. A statesman is defined as a skilled, experienced, and respected political leader or figure. Not many of those around are there? Come on, respected? Really? Do you, can you really respect a politician? I suppose it's like stuffing feelings. The less we know of them the easier it is to pretend the feelings we have are harmless, like those springy worm things that come in a can.
  

  What do you think? Do you suppose Winston Churchill was indirectly saying that pigs treat us as equals because we are equals, or because pigs think we are? Surely people, as a rule, don't think they are equal with pigs. Most of the people I've met would be terribly insulted. That would lead to a feeling of outrage and righteous indignation. Two very dangerous feelings when they're stuffed way down in the can of our internal world. When we were kids and we opened one of those cans of springy worm things it was a surprise. Adults today don't like surprises. They like to be pissed off. This is the only conclusion an objective observer with a somewhat rational mind could conclude. I suppose that means it's what a pig might conclude after examining the behavior of our species. If you've read this far I can only beg your pardon for what I'm about to do. Yeah, I'm going to add one more definition. What I didn't tell you about the statesman definition. At the bottom of the definition they added Stateswoman. No, seriously, they really did. A skilled, experienced, and respected female political leader. Why? To quell public outrage no doubt. I like pigs.

  • 11:39 am
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