I am busy pruning grape vines.
Cutting. Eliminating, Choosing one among two or three equal canes. You build a grape vine by what you take away.
I do this task in a mood of care and creation, not destruction.
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Like much farm work, the job is tedious and I am alone in my thoughts. My mind wanders. I recall the words of Herb Rothschild, yesterday's guest post author: "God is the great abortionist. The number of fertilized eggs that in the course of nature never come to term far exceeds those that do."
It wanders, too, to the large centerpiece image in front of the congregation at the church where I grew up, the Methodist church on West Main Street in Medford. There is an image of a kind-looking Jesus, holding a lamb. In my boyhood, I saw a nurturing parent. In my adulthood, now with hands busy cutting two out of every three leaves and canes, I reflect that Jesus was in a pastoral society that raised sheep and goats. Sheep are not pets. The sheep had their tails cut off, most males were castrated, the sheep were protected until they were slaughtered and eaten. He wasn't holding a baby. He was holding future food.
The insight in Rothschild's post yesterday is that the absolutist and ideological position of those who see a fertilized egg as uniquely precious -- an immortal soul -- misunderstand God's practice, if not His unfathomable will. Miscarriages are frequent, likely taking place silently and unknown to the woman. Defining abortion as a battle of competing rights -- the right of the fetus to live versus the right of the mother to control what takes place inside her body -- is a frame that leads to uncompromisable conflict. A better frame is one that emphasizes care and avoids cruelty. In that frame, compromise is possible. Sometimes what appears to be cruel is in fact kind.
Local wine-grower Mark Wisnovsky, proprietor of Valley View Winery, gave me a bit of advice about the need for spacing and pruning. "Every cane needs is own space to grow. Sort of like children. Each need their own bed. Each need attention from their parents."
The canes compete for light and space. The climbing tendrils attach to wires, which is good, but also to each other, when the competition becomes vicious and deadly. The tendrils bend back and strangle the growing leader of their sister canes. I have to stop the deadly competition. One must be removed so that one can thrive.
There is a phrase I hear women's rights organizations use now: "abortion care." It sounded strange to me at first, but now it is familiar and it makes sense.
Meanwhile, today is another morning of plant care and I will be at the farm at 6 a.m. I am pruning with the help of Liam Flenniken, my 16-year-old nephew. I have gotten old somehow. He is young. He is stronger than I am and can work faster. He has a great attitude and work ethic. He says his back does not hurt him when he gets up from one plant to go to the next.
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8 comments:
Until recently, White Christian Nationalism was a fringe group of far-White whackos, but now it’s become a major force in the GOP. They want the U.S. to be ruled according to their interpretation of the Bible and in their view, women are to be subservient to men. So, if men say no abortion, women should humbly acquiesce to their superior wisdom. They’re also obsessed with guns. I’ve always said, the only combination more deadly than guns and liquor is guns and religion.
If Republicans were serious about being “pro-life,” they would also support sensible gun control, greenhouse gas regulation and reduction of our dependency on fossil fuels, but they don’t. That’s why their blueprint for Trump’s next term, Project 25, is so anti-democratic. They don’t care about rights or life. What they want is total control, or as Trump put it, “the termination of all rules…even those found in the Constitution.”
Don't get heat stroke.
Margaret Sanger said one of Planned Parenthood’s objectives was to prevent “the multiplication of the unfit”. She approved of genetic pruning, as it were. Ethically, however, it’s rather complicated.
Yet in my opinion women MUST be accorded choice in order to approximate political and economic equality. Utility—the greatest good for the greatest number—must consider group, then individual?
"Defining abortion as a battle of competing rights -- the right of the fetus to live versus the right of the mother to control what takes place inside her body -- is a frame that leads to uncompromisable conflict.
The danger here is that the absolutist, and his TV evangelist pastor, see the compromiser as evil, subhuman, something that must be destroyed. Using a mild descriptive like conflict is deceptively simple and misstates their intent. It's not a debate, it's war.
They will kill to enforce their belief, a fairy tale at best, never mind the hypocrisy and inherent irony.
A recent headline:
"Texas Republicans open to death penalty for abortion providers
Texas Republicans are open to applying the death penalty to abortion providers, a new proposal from the state party indicates.
Over the weekend, during the Texas GOP convention, Republican delegates voted on a party platform for 2024 that proclaims “abortion is not healthcare, it is homicide” and suggests striking a state law that protects abortion providers from being charged with homicide. In Texas, capital murder is punishable by the death penalty. Killing a child under the age of 15 can qualify as capital murder, the most severe form of homicide." - The Guardian
Backpain is the price humans pay for the ability to walk upright. The original blueprint of the spine was designed for animals that walk on 4 legs. That design hasn't changed. But, put that on a human who wants to straighten up, the spine will fight back. Over time, like Peter's old body, it will degrade and cause a lot of pain. In order to avoid the problem there is only one remedy: Don't get old.
How much do farm helpers make per hour?
In this weather, not enough.
Profound insight, worthy of contemplation and appreciation: "A better frame is one that emphasizes care and avoids cruelty. In that frame, compromise is possible. Sometimes what appears to be cruel is in fact kind."
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