Eagle and Octopus - Haiku - And an interesting metaphor on our nation's current struggles
Bald eagle struggles
as octopus tries to drown . . .
Fishermen step in
I was fascinated this evening upon coming upon this video in The Guardian, depicting a fully grown bald eagle, struggling for its life with a large, orange octopus.
Being a lover of marine life in general, and thus a fan of both eagles and octopi, I was heartened when the Canadian salmon fishermen depicted chose to intervene, using a boat hook to pull the octopus closer to the boat, thus prompting it to release its' grip on the eagle, and enabling the eagle to fly to a log on the nearby shore.
Three cheers for the fishermen!!!
Marek saw the video as well, and when I spoke with him, he said his very first thought on seeing the orange octopus trying to drown the eagle was that it was a metaphor of Trump trying to squeeze the life out of our system of government and the Rule of Law. Ouch.
Hard to argue, especially on the very day the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach him. Friday the 13th indeed.
The analogy, of course, is that Trump represents the head of the octopus, with his minions, such as Mitch McConnell, Rudy Giuliani, Lindsay Graham, Devin Nunez, Matt Gaetz, and Jim Jordan, as his over-reaching tentacles; not to mention Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, and others already indicted, convicted and jailed for their criminal conduct.
And, while I completely identify with the fishermens' dilemma in struggling to decide whether or not they should intervene, given that they were witnessing nature in action, I am grateful that their humanity took precedence, and ultimately, they were unwilling to stand by and watch as the magnificent bird was dragged under and drowned.
I have faced similar decisions in the past, when witnessing struggles in nature, and while sometimes I have intervened, at other times I have allowed nature to take its course, which can be heartwrenching.
Then again, there have been successful rescues, such as once in 1999, when my former husband and I visited Rattlesnake Key in the southern part of Tampa Bay with friends, and one of our friends found an egret that had become entangled in the mangroves in a mass of fishing line.
In that case, there was no question of should we help or not, as the bird appeared to be otherwise unharmed. So I stood nearby, as my husband and our friend disentangled the bird, then held it up briefly so that I could photograph it as it flew away unaided.
That was a very good day.
It is easy to be frustrated these days, as we watch members of our government refuse to abide by their Oaths of Office and hold a clearly incompetent, unethical and lawbreaking president accountable; especially while lying every bit as much as he does, and parroting Russian talking points as the spineless lackeys they have clearly made of themselves.
It isn't any easier to watch across the pond as Boris Johnson threatens to follow a similar path. My heart goes out to the UK.
As to our own issues, I am reminded of one of my favorite scenes in the film The American President, when Michael J. Fox as Lewis finally goes off on a congressman who is refusing to do what is right, finally screaming into the phone, "Just vote your conscience, you chickenshit lameass!"
Amen.
I feel like screaming the same to ALL Republicans in the House and Senate, and I hereby challenge each and every one of them to do exactly that . . . to VOTE THEIR CONSCIENCES . . . by role call vote.
We the People deserve to know precisely who among our elected representatives are traitors to the nation, to the Constitution, to the American people, and to the Rule of Law.
History is watching, and it will not look kindly on those who fail to uphold their oaths, and to do their sworn duties.
And, unethical sycophants though many of them have become, I put my faith in their egos and vanity, and thus their ultimate unwillingness to be seen as Russian tools and traitors for the rest of time and all eternity.
I remain hopeful that enough will rediscover their spines to do the right thing, and to remove Trump from office, for the good of our nation, and of all the world.
If they do not, then we no longer have a working government, a democratic republic, the Rule of Law, or a Constitution.
In that case, God help us all.
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art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
That is an amazing video. I agree — it’s great that they intervened and freed the eagle. It would have been a horrible way for the bird to die. What an odd thing for an octopus to do!
Metaphors aside, on the second topic I have a lot of thoughts. I generally don’t discuss politics on social media because it tends not to go well. But as you and I are like minded, I will share some thoughts.
I tuned in quite a bit to the hearings. And a few things struck me. Trump supporters don’t think of him as a crook or see themselves as having to set their conscience and morals aside to stand behind him. They see him as unorthodox but effective, and they have themselves convinced that he has been the victim of a witch hunt. Poor Trump, in this way of thinking, has had to try to get things done when his adversaries were just looking for the right time to set a trap and were setting land mines and blocking progress from the day he took office. And when (legitimately, in this view) he attempted to launch a private investigation into his political adversary, there was nothing wrong with it, no quid pro quo, no pressure applied or aid withheld. In other words, there is no moral dilemma for them. Evidently they are also just fine with his approach on environmental policies, racially biased immigration and border policies, etc. etc. Let children be ripped from their parents and caged. Let him hide whatever shady things he has been doing to avoid paying taxes like everyone else. These things are simply not a problem in some people’s eyes.
Trump will not be removed from office. He has way too much support in the senate. This will benefit the democrats far more in the next election than if he was removed from office, IMHO. But we shall see.
So my point is that it’s not a matter of following one’s conscience. The fact is, we operate by an entirely different moral compass then the supporters who voted this man into office and approve of his behavior. It’s like if I pointed to the sky and said it’s blue and you agreed — yup, it’s blue — and then two other people came along and agreed together that it’s green. You can argue all day that anyone can see it’s blue, but they see green, quite happily, and they are 100% convinced. You’re never going to win that argument.
No argument, and I've made this point myself, quite recently in fact, which is why as a general rule I stay away from politics in social media as well.
But I disagree that most of our GOP politicians actually believe what they are saying. I don't believe that most of them are stupid; I believe that they are criminally corrupt, and will do anything to keep our Criminal-in-Chief in office, no matter what it does to our nation long term.
They have, quite clearly and consciously, chosen party over country, and are thus truly traitors.
Besides, Marek's analogy was just too perfect for me not to pass it along.
An orange octopus, a cold-blooded multi-tentacled creature, trying to drown a warm-blooded air-breathing bald eagle, the symbol of our nation and of our freedoms; but failing in the end, because good and decent people intervened to prevent it from happening.
Call me naive, and I'll readily admit it may be wishful thinking on my part, but I'm still hoping and praying for the miracle that forces GOP senators to rediscover their spines and do the right thing.
And, at the same time, Trump has been increasingly erratic in recently months, and now that he is actually going to be impeached, he may well do something so unhinged and heinous that even the Republicans finally say "Enough is enough. No more."
And no, I'm not holding my breath.
Clearly, I am speaking of our politicians when I say that I don't believe that they are saying what they believe, but rather what is expedient for their current political goals.
Clearly Trump's rank and file followers, at least many of them, DO believe the pablum they've been fed for the past four years and more.
Thankfully, many have seen through the lies and have jumped ship, but for those who are true believers, I have no animosity toward them, and agree that anything I say is unlikely to change their minds.
Which is one of the reasons why I am such a supporter of better early childhood education, as we as a nation need to start teaching logic and critical thinking skills at a MUCH earlier age.
There are many reasons why our students are lagging behind internationally, but most of it comes down to the way the Republican party has banded together to eviscerate our educational system for the past four decades and counting.
Less federal interference at the classroom level would go a long way toward helping to ameliorate the problems.
The way we teach math, as just one example, has been categorically proven to be the LEAST effective way for students to learn, and if we would simply start using the many ways proven to BE effective, our students would be doing far better overall.
My dad taught in the LA City School System for nearly thirty years, and we had a lot of conversations along these lines, as I have with a number of friends who are teachers. We could be doing SOOOOO much better, with the same money or less, if we would simply eliminate EVERY administrator who is not qualified to teach in the classroom.
You’ve been visited by @porters on behalf of Natural Medicine. Heart warming to see the rescue of the magnificent bald headed eagle! Funny, the American election and going ons seemed to get more coverage here in Canada than our own politics. I'm afraid it is just hard to find good leadership at all in the political system, at least here in Canada.
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Thank you, @porters, and #naturalmedicine!
And yes, I understand, as an American, I've been following not only our own political scene, but also the happenings in the UK, Australia and Canada, as in reality, national borders notwithstanding, we're all in this together.
Here's to finding decent leaders for ALL of us going forward, so that we can stay the encroachment of autocracy and fascism, and regain true representation for the many, rather than just the monied few.
Perhaps we should be looking to Finland for a good example. They seem to have chosen good leaders who have the many in mind, and hopefully will continue to, going forward.
And congrats to Greta Thunberg for being named as Time Magazine's Person of the Year! Much deserved, for all her hard work, and for her passion and dedication to getting her message out.
I see important things in her future, and I have no doubt that, in the end, her impact on the planet will be overwhelmingly positive for all.