Old MacDonald

Life on the farm

The wonder of nursery rhymes … never ceases to amaze me. They teach … entertain … help us recall … basic principles in our human orientation. And in the way that its done … with ease … music … and the voices of children … reminds me that what we encounter in life … is hard or easy … on the basis of what we bring to it. But a Donald running for the presidency of the highest office in the land … is certainly a curious part of the nursery rhyme … not previously communicated to us … common folk.

Old MacDonald had a farm … Ee I Ee I O … brings to us … the message of how we began a home in the universe. Its King Cepheus … of the constellations … the home in the universe. Certainly … a person would expect that the head of the home … would have a way about managing the many people who come to share in his experience … of the universe. And wouldn't it be a surprise to think he was managing it entirely by himself?

Indic Puranas … myths … legends … and stories … tell a great tale of how … to view life … of the individual and the world. But they certainly don't tell the entire story. Add to that … the myths and legends of the Greeks … Norse … Africans … Arabians … Orientals … the Maori … and so forth … we inevitably find in the midst of our living room … all the makings of MacDonald's farm. Makes a man wonder … what a trusty Scot farmer … stores in his kilt.

Obama's speech from the oval office … had all the elements of the assurance that … freedom is greater than fear. On the other hand a JFK … would have used his trademark … ' Never in the history of the world … has America faced a daunting challenge … to its leadership in the world … than it does at this time. Its the time for every American to realize what this infant democracy in the world's experience … has achieved as human fortitude and moral courage.' Etc.etc. Etc. And I think he would have ended it with … ' We have an obligation to bring to the world … our experience of life … and to share in the fireplace of people everywhere … what freedom and liberty can achieve.'

But that's just me. My ex-wife hates watching a movie with me … because I'm always full of suggestions about how a scene … or a dialogue … could be done better. But out on MacDonald's farm … I don't suppose … anyone … could possibly know … how something might be improved … or made better … without taking the plow to the field … and actually working the ground. We plant the seeds for tomorrow today … and hope that they … might take to what keeps all of us … in one piece … as we maneuver this treacherous patch of road … we call the beginning of the 21^st Century.

Certainly the Donald is no farmer … and I hear they don't even like him … in the Northern UK. But the way that he has raised the hairs on the neck of every man … listening to his speeches … must account for something … as a first time farmer-to-be-president. He's made it clear what roams on his farm. White supremacists groups … anti-immigrants … anti-Muslim … gun merchants … the super-rich … know-it-alls … and the incomparable … ' I don't want to say later that I told you so.' He's probably named his farm … ' the lazy WU ranch ' … that's for the wake-up call.

If I had to name one thing about Americans … that's made an impression with me … these many years … its simply the attitude … ' less government … and letting the individual lead his own life.' Its possibly the single greatest impulse … Americans will bring with them when they vote for the Republican nominee. The Donald speaks his mind … which is something we cannot lose in a world … that's become a little closeted with simply good form … as style. I suppose I'm one of those … who continue to think that America ought to be be the frontiersman always… in a world … that is still testing the endurance of its ideas … ideals … and belief systems.

Our hopes and dreams … of the years gone by … that was fed by … conservatism … caution … and tested ideas … are slowly fading. We are knee deep in untested waters in many places. We need a leader who is bold … who may re-arrange our carefully manicured lifestyles … and tell us … to get back out on the fields of sod … and turn the soil over … for a new season. Its the story of Bootes … the plow … in the annals of creation.

I had the most curious experience with celt images in the mind recently … with a kitten and a deer. It was in some reference to the creative impulses that I've been examining recently. It appeared to me that the deer wasn't going to wait until the kitten … grew into a ferocious predator some day. So it played with the kitten … and they spun imagery of infantile stories … that drew the milk of human kindness from deep in my disposition. I almost had my tongue hanging out in expectation … but we do know that … cats still grew into the greatest predators of the forests.

That's when I connected with the Donald on the issues. It was the kitten .. fully grown … and telling his kin … that they are born for the hunt. My mom guide … who reportedly raised both the kitten and the deer … stayed quiet … as I allowed the thought to emerge. A man certainly owes it to himself to stay true to his nature … and on a quiet day at the farm … Old MacDonald himself must have thought its okay that God did that. It reminds me how a man … truly strong … applies himself with purpose.

Reviews

[Solar]

Thought-provoking. A delight to 'dig into it'. The personalities and the politics ploughed through....like a predator among the pigeons, organic 'food for thought'.