Having the usual argument today about that hoary chestnut of ‘the sins of the fathers’ and wondering how so many anti -Christian liberals can embrace such a fundamentalist Biblical principle.
I certainly repudiate it. In fact, I believe in a statute of limitations even for sins committed in my own lifetime. If I were to punish or retaliate against the symbols of my own oppression, and the rapes that were wantonly committed, cocks and balls would roll into baskets in greater numbers than aristocrats’ heads during the Reign of Terror or the devotees of Cybele and Attis during the annual procession where the greatest gift was a man’s own cock and balls, self-severed.
Let the Sun move on, and the shadows pass. As long as a cock does not talk back, it can be a useful tool. A tool, yes, even when it is controlled by and attached to a human being, but one that theoretically, could serve out a little joy along with its other side effects.
I did not turn against the male gender of the species, even though badly treated by too many. There are women as well in the list after all. I do not see a vagina dentata every time I look at a woman.
Even where the pandemic is concerned, I easily could see myself as a primary target if I had a persecution complex. I actually do not, but my shield arm is exhausted, and my blade needs ro be sharpened and sanded again. It has been a rough couple of years. If I am less than eager to take on some cosmic burden meted out now against my ancestors, I would say that would be a natural response. I am not a masochist. I am not your dog, not your slave, not your carpet to beat. If the sky begins to rain spears, I am more inclined to grab one and hurl it now than to cower beneath a bush.
Not that this is any sort of metaphor for justifying selfish negligence where the pandemic is concerned, because I wear a masque gladly if there is even a chance it might protect your life. I expect the same basic courtesy in return.
What it is, however, is the following:
I am not a supporter of the government under either of its megalith political parties or its policies, so I shan’t apologise for its actions, because I never took part in the process. At the same time, the events of 11 September represent a drop in the bucket compared to the past and ongoing violent and economic inferference and destruction of other nations and their citizens. The double standard never ceases to amaze me.
I watched a series recently that, en passant, dealt with the nuclear attacks by the U.S. against Japan. I knew that there were more than one, but had not really considered the reality. They dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, witnessed and processed the horrific devastation it caused, then waited two days and dropped another bomb on Nagasaki! There has been no so-called ‘terrorist attack’ anywhere that even begins to measure up to these inhumane nuclear attacks. If any one is entitled to demand endless apologies, it should be the Japanese people.
I have wriiten the above on top of a post about childhood hurts. There is some link here, but very little. The point really is the ability to move on. The Japanese moved on. I moved on. The sanest approach to life, and the one that looks to a new dawn rather than the poisonous fog of the past, is to move on.
After my mother’s dearh, the actions and attitudes of two individuals once close to me surprised me not only in the lack of ethics, morality, and common decency, but more even, because they demonstrated how deeply these people remained entrenched in childhood, in perceived or actual slight and a desire almost for revenge.
I admit that I retained an idealistic vision of the past, a layer or veil of illusion that dominated some fantasies until I had a child. People speak of ‘grounding’ in so many different contexts, but I became grounded in reality when my daughter was born. I still loved fantasy and worlds created by imagination, but I no longer had any real,attachment to my childish dreams. I would have liked a more positive history with certain past relationships, but knew those ships had sailed beyond the horizon, and the future was a far better option.
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