Now isn't that something — up in the woodlot today on snowshoes I followed deer tracks picking away obediently and steadily right in my broken trail from days and days ago. Now who is following who?
Overlap is the message that we are all here together. Just keep it balanced.
I came back indoors and rebuilt the fire and listened to the news how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was so swift at acting on gun banning legislation. The world of journalism wonders how he could act so swiftly? Because he can and he does. I don't care what his party politics are — this is the sign of a good worker. He strikes while the iron is hot. He strikes before the opposition can bunker in. These days opposition can be worse than nasty. It can ruin your life.
In The New York Times today Joe Nocera has something to say about how nasty things have become. How rotten the system is. How deranged and futile little gets properly accomplished. He's hitting a ringer here:
"People who do these kinds of settlements regularly say that the world has become so complicated that, more often than not, it is simply too expensive to figure out who was harmed and who was not. So best just to throw a little money at everybody and make the problem go away.
"That is what the federal government did last week in its settlement with the banks. It’s nothing to be proud of."
He's right. We're cowards. Many are too tired, beaten, whipped to continue the fight. The fight is to live honestly and with fellowship, and it takes no money whatsoever, it takes courage and belief. A helping hand is a wonder, too. It helps greatly to have backup, to have partners, to have support. Are you supporting anyone, lately?
As to Andrew Cuomo — I have a rifle and no one is getting it. I've had it since I was a kid. It understands what a target is. It understands a varmint — two-legged or four-legged a varmint is a varmint. Stay where you belong. I do. In the track, following deer following me. Ban all the heavy artillery, ammunition, assault rifles and revolvers. Now. None of it belongs in a civilian life. Chop down the military budget while we're at it, and decrease their weaponry. Enough has reached enough. When children are being massacred in their playgrounds this is a message and a lesson all at once: we're too big. And unfortunately for us, we're too stupid.
Love and hate, violence and peace, these are subjects that take broad minds that can think small and big at once. That have versatility. That know beyond themselves. I have had small minds tell me, with my simple rifle, I've slaughtered. Like small minds they've done this publicly, never having met me, never having seen what was evidently slaughtered. I guess they mean varmints that dangerously chew on household wiring, or destroy property, or foul food sources? Again — enough is enough — one selectively diminishes the problem with an occasional shot, and stops listening to the small minds.
Mr. Cuomo is right on target. Certainly it's not yet perfect, but it's time to save ourselves. And honor the correct frontier.
photo © bob arnold
