Tuesday, June 01, 2010

View from the Treetops (1 June '10)

Israeli Terrorist Attack




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Domestic Bliss


I sit at the bottom of the garden with the cat circling my ankles and enticing me to pay her attention. A pair of robins let out a steady stream of clicking calls from positions on either side of me; perhaps warning all around of our presence. The cat keeps an eye on them (and me), rolling in the dirt exposed by the attempts of Sagittarius and I to return the garden to some sort of natural state (or at least a state pleasing to the eye).
I was struck by the relationships between us; robins, cat and I; trying to avoid imagining some sort of hierarchy; trying to see the world from the perspective of the robins. The cat eyes me again, then climbs the tree to eye the robins out.
Life is a dangerous experience, dependant on specialist skills to stay ahead of the tooth and claw.
For the robins those skills are, for the most part, defensive: a ultra-high heart rate and a short life; for the cat, predatory psychopathy and a fine-tuned body; for us (the dominant species) our abilities to construct weapons.
Killing weapons yes, but also weapons of mass domestication: cows and cats and dogs and horses…
weapons of control and of creative energy; weapons of persuasion and weapons of placation.
We make ourselves safe.
Look how safe we are; safe from the few wild animals we have not killed; safe from…
Safe from dying on the motorway?
Safe from the dangers of the natural world?
The robins change positions between trees and fence, keeping on opposite sides of cat and I. The cat, not hungry, gives up on a lost cause. I return to the safety of the house.

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The National ~ Bloodbuzz Ohio

10 comments:

Zaina Anwar said...

You might want to check this out:
http://www.israeli-occupation.org/,
on the board of advisors are (amongst others): Noam Chomsky, Stephen R. Shalom and formerly, Howard Zinn, who sadly, is not with us any more..

zoe said...

not even safe from ourselves.

Garth said...

Zaina: thanks for the link to an excellent resourse - I shall add it to my sidebar

Zoe: you said it

Tom said...

careful of the radon!

Harlequin said...

the images and the writing are strange partners... you have a way of moving into uncanny places of terrible simultaneity.
I admire your gutsy refusal to be silent, and your soft reminders of the garden which is mine to tend.

Garth said...

Tom: I hate that radon stuff...

Harlequin: silence is not an option ;]

Yodood said...

I waited for a few days for this drama to play out, the triumpherate I refer to as USUKI, seems to act like a hostile take over of a corporation. Drawing the condemnation by the entire world but never by its partners in some biblical myth about tribes of the chosen or some such prophetic bullshit.

Garth said...

Israel (or Nazisrael) is the US/UK's attack dog in arabia - unfortunatly it keeps slipping its leash and biting people (and then blaming the victim).

Sofia | Freebird said...

God, how I love your posts, always so wise and interesting. And I agree with you, what is happening between Israel/Palestine is one of the most shameful events in human history, and I can't believe it is still going strong.
I commend you for not staying silent. Never did anyone any good ;)

JeffScape said...

Somewhat against the grain here, I'm far more critical of Israel's invasion of Lebanon a while back than I am of what happened concerning the flotilla (though I support neither action). Hit a dog in the mouth with a stick enough times, don't be surprised when it bites without provocation. But such is another topic.

Concerning the written portion... I love it. Safety (and, by proxy, comfort) are entirely subjective. Twice in my life I touched a wild animal with my hand (probably stupidly so), and the experiences were awesome.

Give me ground to sleep on and I'll be happy. ;)

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