Weird seizures

I have about two hours to kill - and that feels such a good word for it. Lets see if writing makes me feel better. It usually does.

I am pleased that I changed the name of this blog to Books etc. It will be mostly about books, but also about my life, my thoughts and my feelings and my opinions. Lets not forget them. As Shakespeare put it "I can not put off my opinion so easily."

"This far and no further", said an Irish poet/terrorist in Colombo about drinking. I say it about what I wrote yesterday. I think I shall delete what came after the first two little paragraphs. Who would want to read about my sweating - not even me, even if it made me feel quite good writing about it. So lets go to fresh pastures: "So graze as you find pasture." (Shakespeare) My mood continues to be a bit weird, but I am in good company. "Myself too had weird seizures." (Tennyson) My online dictionary is brilliant, coming up with these quotes when I check that I have a correct spelling for words. And I do not even have to go on the web page as this Linux operating system enabled me to put a little box on the bar at the top of the screen. There I type a word and it gives me meaning. The only trouble with it is that if I get a spelling wrong it comes up with nothing. So I have to try a different spelling until I get the word right. Enough of this! ...


Now for something else ... a book I have read. I read this novel quite a while ago, but have not written about it yet as I wanted to find out more about one thing in it and did not get round to doing it until yesterday. The book is devil bones by Kathy Reichs. I have read quite a few novels by per and liked them. This one was different for one reason. Still a good read, but that one thing has put me off Kathy Reichs and pers novels.

The main character in the novels of Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist, like the writer perself, by the name of Dr Temperance Brennan who is an alcoholic mostly in control of pers alcoholism. Like the writer Dr Brennan divides pers working life between two countries, Canada and USA. In Charlotte per is employed by the university and by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In Canada per consults for the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de medecine legale in Montreal. In pers working life Dr Brennan, like the writer, sees the worst of what we humans are capable of. Dr Brennan, like the writer, wants to unmask these monstrosities and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In this book the bones found were those of a child, aged between 14 and 17. Dr Brennan feels sad for the loss of a young life and horrified at the thought of what may have brought the bones to the table in front of per. From these grisly discoveries Dr Brennan hurries up to meet pers daughter for dinner at a restaurant. There per orders veal and the daughter comments that per always eats that.

I find it strange that a person cannot see the similarities in the violence. Veal comes from a young calf, sometimes only a couple of days old, often a male calf - surplus to requirement in the dairy industry. These calves are often separated from their mothers after birth, living their short lives often in grates alone where they are artificially fed with all kinds of things that they would not normally eat. This is torture for the calf and the mother. Cows have been known to cry after their young are taken from them.

The juxtaposition of the order of veal with the following enquiry from the daughter, "So. Voodoo, vampires, or vegan devil worshippers?" to me indicates that the writer is aware of the suffering in veal production and does not care. In fact it feels to me that the writer is taunting vegans for their care for animal suffering.

It is strange how we humans can live with such contradictions. We love animals yet we kill them to eat them. I believe, I have to believe, that most of us want world peace like Miss Congeniality and yet we invest in violence. I think all violence is related. As long as we accept some forms of violence others forms will also persist. In many of the novels I have read murderers start by tormenting animals and end up killing human animals.

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence is attempting to create global awareness of the urgent need to condemn all forms of violence and to bring about real peace. With my whole being I wish it success.