Bugs can be so smart ...

Rick was working in the garden this evening, and accidentally unearthed a spider guarding her egg case. When Rick accidentally startled the spider, she became agitated and dropped the egg mass, so he prodded her with a finger until she bumped into the egg mass again. She promptly picked it back up and scooted out of gardening range. Spiders can be such good moms -- almost as good as earwigs!


And so can humans ....

I'm becoming intrigued with the theology of Stanley Hauerwas, the Christian pacifist professor with a joint appointment in Duke's divinity and law schools. It's been a good thirty years or more since I've considered myself to be Christian, but I have an increasing appreciation for anyone who uses his or her religion as an ethical focus on the path away from violence. The thing about Hauerwas that's most intriguing is best expressed by his quote, used as a title of an interview with him in The Progressive: "I'm a pacifist because I'm a violent son of a bitch." In some ways he's restated, more bluntly, the self-assessment of a Unitarian Universalist peace activist writing in a recent UU World: "I don't think of myself as a pacifist; I think of myself as a violent person trying to become non-violent." It's really not much of a challenge to embrace peace and non-violence if one doesn't sometimes feel rage. Understanding one's own capacity for anger and vengeance is tremendously empowering as a first step away from the pathology. And, the more of us who step off the pathological and homicidal/suicidal vengeance treadmill, the better.


Then again, humans can be REALLY stupid ....

On today's menu: Restaurant rage. (Hmmm, I don't think anyone's ever factored this into the various pros and cons of low-carb diets....)