Swan Sanctuary

We cannot escape it. It flashes all over our computer screen. It inundates us with text messages. It fills our email inboxes. It monopolizes our television screens. It fills the pages of magazines and newspapers; and it gets delivered with our snail mail. The pressure to buy, buy, buy – and to apply for credit and sign up for email and text notifications. We are urged to join “exclusive” clubs that tether you to a specific store or brand – all with the message that you will be “saving” money. The blaring advertisements between the songs played on the radio, and the fund drives and pleas from the non-profits are all clamoring for our attention.

Somewhere, buried deep within our psyche, we know that spending money does not equal saving money; but we buy into the falsehood anyway. Our inner guidance is drowned out by the noise of consumerism. We are collectively being deceived and our ability to think rationally is squeezed out by constant temptation. We are literally being crushed by our own insatiable desires – desires that we may not have had before they were waved in front of our nose.

We are targeted at every turn. We cannot check out at a store without passing by numerous items that the merchant is hoping we will add to our purchase. And even when we think we are strong enough to resist, we are offered recurring shipments that promise to “save” us money. 

Our own government has a 36 trillion dollar debt. Consumer debt is at an all time high. Here we are at the holidays again and how many of us will pile up still more debt and astronomical interest, ensuring us days of anxiety, sleepless nights, and poor health, even while we struggle to put food on the table. Our country cannot continue on this trajectory. Neither can we. We have lost our values. We have lost our way. Come January, our government will be making a fresh start. We will as well. It is up to each of us individually, to release the pressure and to learn to find contentment, not in things, but in life itself.

My cat has been getting into fights with a three legged Main Coon that lives two doors down. This past Saturday morning I noticed he was limping and refusing his breakfast. His nose was warm and he slept the entire day. I had to be gone for most of the day; but when I returned in late afternoon I called the local veterinary hospital, to see if I could get an appointment for the following day. I was worried that his paw might be broken or sprained. I became slightly irritated because the receptionist kept asking me for all of my personal information, ignoring that I just wanted to know if they could fit my cat into their schedule. To my surprise, she said that I could bring him immediately. 

When I arrived, the staff were not in the least bit friendly. While I was filling out paperwork, the vet tech  took my cat to get x-rays. I waited and waited, wondering why it was taking so long to simply take an x-ray. I was anxious to join my cat in an exam room and speak directly to  the doctor. That never happened. 

Several minutes later the technician returned with my cat telling me, “The good news is that nothing is broken or sprained.” He had sustained an abscess underneath his arm, which they had drained. She handed me an antibiotic and also a drug in salve form to apply to the wound. I had already started giving my cat colloidal silver, suspecting  infection due to his warm nose. Had I been able to discover the abscess myself, I would not have had to pay for x-rays and could have perhaps treated it at home. If I had been allowed to accept or reject their treatment of drugs and actually talk to the doctor, I could have avoided their exorbitant prices. But as with most veterinary clinics, payment is required at the time of service. I paid the $214 bill and was then coldly dismissed by the receptionist as she handed me my receipt.

I had a similarly frustrating experience a few years ago, during COVID. I had a 14 year old cat who had been quite sick. I was required to sit in my vehicle and wait for an unreasonably long time. Finally, a staff member came and took him inside. I had to wait, in my truck, for a phone call from the doctor after she had examined him. After another interminably long time, my cat was returned  to me, along with a bill for which I had to promptly write them a check. 

Many years earlier, when my youngest daughter was only eight years old, I had to take her to a dentist for a root canal. She had fallen face first on her bicycle and her front tooth had fallen out. I was not allowed to go into the treatment room; but was told to sit in the waiting room – where I could hear my daughter screaming from the pain. Later that day, she showed me that the dentist had done the root canal on the wrong tooth! To this day, I have not forgiven myself for not suing that doctor for his negligence and even more so, because I still paid his bill. I was a single mother at the time and did not realize that a sense of victimhood actually strips us of our power. 

The caring, country veterinary doctor we are familiar with, from James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small,  which also became a popular PBS series, is a thing of the past. Still, I will continue my search for such a doctor because relinquishing my pets – my family members – to complete strangers, is ludicrous.

I was excited to learn that President-elect Trump has appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services. However; I am angered by the numerous articles written by mainstream media. During RFK Jr’s campaign they rarely mentioned him at all; or they would say only brief, derogatory things about him. They are finally talking about him, but they continue to spread blatant lies that he is an “anti-vaxxer,” that he is a “conspiracy theorist,” and that he is “actively sowing misinformation.” I am so disgusted with NPR and the other news sources who report this nonsense without bothering to investigate the facts. With only a little effort, the average person can find evidence themselves that verify his statements.

I am tired of people who only parrot what they hear on the news, or what someone else has told them, without actually LISTENING and HEARING what Bobby Kennedy has to say. So many people simply believe what others have told them to believe. They do not question and they are incapable of critical thinking. Perhaps this is why I wrote Question Everything: Overcoming Passivity in a Perilous World. 

I hope that others will join me in sending loving energy and protective light to surround Bobby Kennedy and also President-elect Trump. People my age often forget; and younger generations have never learned about the assassinations of President Kennedy (Bobby’s uncle) and Robert Kennedy (Bobby’s father.) These heroic men were killed for exposing the truth. Those who have had control of our government for decades will not willingly relinquish the power they have maintained over the American people. We must all remain vigilant and we must fight corruption in whatever peaceful means we can. Bobby Kennedy needs our support now more than ever.

I am hopeful that at long last our country is moving in the right direction; but it may prove to be an arduous, uphill climb. For every step forward we seem to take two steps back and the age of Aquarius, that we sang about in the 1960’s, still feels much too far away. Robert F. Kennedy Jr is our King Arthur. Camelot is more than an imaginary place. It is an ideal for which we must strive. It will take more than optimism. It will take our commitment to the truth. It will require love and compassion. It will demand respect for our fellow Americans – reverence for our planet. Above all, it will require peace – in our hearts and in our homes. We all want peace and we must pray unceasingly for it.

By chance, I came across a YouTube video about a carnivorous mouse known as the grasshopper mouse, aka Onychomys leucogaster. While it is rare, it fortunately is not endangered. As their name implies, they eat grasshoppers and other arthropods; and they are common here in the grasslands of North America. They are formidable predators. They will take on poisonous scorpions and centipedes as well as other mice. They have even been known to be cannibalistic when food is scarce. Their most fascinating habit is that they howl at the moon prior to making a kill, which has given them the nickname of werewolf mouse.

Having learned about this garden ally, I was thrilled. While hundreds of grasshoppers moved into my garden, after the weeds in the neighboring yard had been cut, there seemed little that I could do about it. I was grateful that I had at least one toad to help control them and my cats found them to be a tasty snack. I have talked to other residents who have tried to convince the town to allow chickens; but the powers that be would not budge on their position. It is frustrating because I am less than a mile from the county, where chickens are allowed. There is a large feral cat population here so I am uncertain about the presence of the grasshopper mouse. One can only hope. 

While the grasshoppers consumed my dill and tasted most of the plants in the garden, they were unable to cause severe damage to anything else. They hung out on my beans, munching the leaves; but they did not eat the beans themselves. I attribute this to the vast polyculture that I had planted. In addition to numerous herbs and vegetables, I had many flowering plants that I had included to attract the butterflies and hummingbirds. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and other pests, have only become a problem because we humans have planted vast expanses of monocultures; but this is not Nature’s way. When we mimic Mother Nature, rather than trying to control her, all species remain in balance.

I had not realized how anxious I had become about the 2024 election. Today; however, I am overcome with relief. This is not so much because former president Trump has won the election; but because I have seen that more and more people are awakening. Last night the growing Light of peace, harmony, and love for our country began to spread across our nation. It has begun a journey to cast out the darkness. In my heart, I voted for Bobby Kennedy. In actuality, in the end, I voted for Trump, because I trust the integrity of Kennedy. He had implored his supporters to vote for Trump and I acquiesced because I knew if Kamala were to win, our country, and our planet would most likely be headed for World War III.

Today I feel more hopeful than I have felt in a very long time. I remain concerned because Trump refuses to see the devastating effects of fracking. He does not understand the vital need for us to protect all species, to protect their habitats, their water, and their food sources. He does not comprehend our connection to Nature and to the balance that is necessary to ensure the health, not only of the human race, but for the health of all living things on the planet. Like so many, he does not realize that we cannot continue to take from the earth without giving back. Thankfully, Bobby Kennedy has a clear understanding of, and a lifetime of experience interacting with Nature. 

I heard Elon Musk state that he does not believe our planet is overpopulated. He too, needs to awaken to the fact that we are dependent upon the ability of all species to thrive. The planet does not belong only to humans. We are not separate from, but a part of all living things.

Last night the human race took a giant leap forward. If president-elect Trump keeps his promise to Kennedy, to include him in his transition team, we will be well on our way to healing our very broken world. I do not know how quickly positive changes will come about and I am certain that the corrupt entities in the current government will not calmly accept their defeat. I do not know how much longer I will be alive to witness those changes; but I am grateful that my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren will now have a chance for a better future. Their freedom of speech will be protected and hopefully, they will never have to experience the atrocities of war. 

Clearly, this has been an historic election. I will end this on a positive note – although I still do not care for Trump, I believe he is a good person. One thing is for certain and that is his tenacity. Like Bobby Kennedy, he has refused to give up. In the face of so much adversity, censorship, and lies told about them, they have both remained steadfast in their journeys. God bless them both.