---
---
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving-kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.
-Thich Nhat Hanh from Living Buddha, Living Christ
He hadn't been sleeping well. The dog in the compound down the street had decided the inhumane hours of 3am to 5am were the best times to howl and moan as if he were undertaking some ghastly werewolf transformation. His nights had been ravaged and he was running on empty. The exhaustion made the rustling in his backyard all the more startling as he stumbled outside to relieve himself. Peering through misty eyes he saw a small figure scuttle across the ground, underneath his thatched bamboo wall and into the darkness. You could say that moment was the catalyst that brought about the downfall of the kingdom.
"Darboe, I think we have some mice or some rodent living in our backyard," Todd explained the next morning. His eyes were a pale red and bloodshot from the lack of sleep. The only thing keep his spirits up was the wonderful aroma and caffeine of the spiced tea he was drinking. He reminded himself he would have to send written thanks to the wonderful gal who sent the tea to him, but for now he refocused on Darboe who was already half way through his response.
"... They're going to pay for eating all of my Cassava plants! I've got the trap ready look here," Daboe exclaimed holding out a large cage of steel.
The rusted cage of metal was the classic mousetrap, and by that I do not mean the children's game. A small piece of food hung as bait and a when the unfortunate creature reached for the morsel of food a large heavy door would swing down and seal his fate.
"We will put this in your backyard tonight, and then they will stop disturbing your backyard and all of my crops," Daboe further explained.
As the sun rose throughout the day and the heat began to swell, Todd's lack of sleep was beginning to catch up to him. The last thing he needed was another night of restlessness caused not only by the howling of the dog but also fear of mice running around his back yard. His face contorted as a horrible image filled his imagination, walking outside in the middle of the night only to be surrounded by dozens of mice swarming around his legs. The fear was perhaps caused by the vilification of the mouse king in The Nutcracker, or perhaps it was all those classes on plague and disease but rats, mice, and other rodents always brought to him an uncanny discomfort. Todd winced and knew the mice had to be stopped. He sighed and felt glad that a trap would be set later that night.
As evening fell he flipped the pages of a book his father had sent him, inattentive to the words, just trying to pass away the time until he could attempt to find peace in slumber. He became more focused flowing across the peaceful words of Thich Nhat Hanh and guessed at what would happen to the mice later that night. Surely Daboe wouldn't just let them go, they would simply return and continue feasting on his crops. No, Todd thought, no Daboe would do what anyone else would; he would send them back to meet their maker. At this thought Todd re-read the passage in his book and found it hard to imagine living in such peace that you strove to never bring any harm to anything or anyone. He had to temporarily reconcile by admitting that it is desirable enough to be on a path towards a goal, rather than actually achieving it.
When the waxing moon finally came out it illuminated the compound with a pale glow. The trap was set and the downfall of the kingdom of mice was about to begin. It took only four minutes before we all heard a tell-tale rattle of the cage. The first victim had been caught.
Todd and Daboe marched through the house towards the backyard, ready to begin the battle for the Cassava farm. As they reached the cage their eyes confirmed what the ears already knew, the capture of a large greyish-brown mouse, almost too big for the cage, and desperately hunting for a way out. It was squirming about grabbing, clawing, scrapping any means of escape.
Daboe brought the cage to the front porch and under the quiet of the moonlight a small crowd of the compound’s children gathered in anticipation. The mouse was feisty and seemed to have an intuition at what was going on, for it was grabbing and clawing at the metal grating with a rapidly swelling vigour. The crowd jeered, smiled, and poked in their temporary gain of the power of the Gods.
Daboe grabbed the mouse’s tail firm and yanked it out of the cage. At this moment all the children gasped in glee, the bloodshed would only be moments away now. Todd, unaccustomed to the sight stood behind the railing of his home watching with a blank stare revealing not emptiness rather an inner conflict of emotions. Daboe pulled the mouse out of the cage and started swinging it in a windmill pattern, around and around until the small creature was dizzy and confused. However, it was not about to give up so quickly and began squirming again, so Daboe gave it another round of windmills, this time adding some hard crashes into the solid dirt. Daboe’s motions were quick and required caricatured swings in order to achieve the desired effect. The flailing antics caused all in the compound to start laughing, pointing, and giggling wildly at the entire scene. The laughter was contagious, and even Todd, hiding behind the safety of his railing couldn’t help but break a smile.
After the second round of swinging Daboe grabbed a knife and called over one of the young for help. He and the boy, Lamin, held the mouse down, grabbed a knife, aligned it with the neck, and began to slice. It was over in a couple of seconds, a small puddle gathering around the neck of the animal.
For the next two nights this episode was repeated no less than six times, and by the end became eerily efficient.
By the end of it all Todd found himself lost in a random thought. If this was the way things are in more rural life, violence being a standard component, how much is the media to blame when a cartoon coyote gets blown up by a roadrunner? Is the comparative real world example much worse?
---
---
6th February, 2007
EBO TOWN, THE GAMBIA
UNICEF in cooperation with the Government of The Gambia launched a water sanitation new country programme intended to help reach the UNDP Millennium Development Goals. The event was attended by the Vice President, although spectators were upset with the absence of President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh who had been invited.
The programme was highlighted by many invigorating speeches, musical acts by local schools, a performance by Gambian Good Will Ambassador Jaliba Kuyateh, and a special dedication of a community water pump.
UNCIEF along with the GoTG have been working hard to make small impacts at community level to improve the conditions for all Gambians. The water sanitation project was started after a 2005 outbreak of Cholera in Ebo Town afflicted more than 40,000 people. Through global partnerships with UNICEF, the UN organization was able to organize the installation of treated wells, pumps, and community water taps.
On hand to cover the event were The Observer and The Point Newspapers, GRTS, and the YMCA Digital Studio.
2 comments:
Todd,
Glad to see that you are reading Thich Nhat Hanh's Living Buddha Living Christ. His advise and teachings make sense and even sound simple to follow, but to put them into actions is not so easy afterall. I agree that they are goals and ideals we strive toward in our daily living as best as we could.
My, it must be quite a sight. I laughed so hard at how Darboe was swinging the doomed rat. I've not seen that in my years of living in M'sia, but then had actually witnessed someone slowly pouring boiling water over a rat inside a trap and saw it jumping futilely and scalding to death. Is this even a moral question: Is that act cruel or not? And which is more cruel -- swinging a rat until it's half dazed and sliced its throat quickly, or slowly scalding it to death with boiling water.
Thich Nhat Hanh's advise would be to spare the poor rat and let it go.
vlim
Toddles,
I like your posting this week. I've never read that book before, but I think that I can partially agree with most of what it says. In my opinion we should all have more respect for life than we do, which would help us to take better care of our environment and treat animals better. On the other hand, I think their role is to further the development of mankind, so there is a balance to be struck. Very difficult to find and even harder to agree upon, I'm sure.
Anyway, without furhter ado, the recipe of the week:
3 tomatoes diced (I like plum tomatoes)
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
1/2 onion chopped finely
1/3 cup olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
1/8 cup oregano
1/8 lb pasta noodles
Fill a pot 1/3 full of water and put some rock salt in it, bring to a boil. In a sauce pan put the oil and heat, adding tomatoes and onion. Stir constantly. After 5 minutes add the garlic, salt, and pepper. Continue to stir until it becomes a thicker sauce rather than chunks of different stuff thrown together. Add oregano. At this point the water should be boiling. Add noodles. Do not break the noodles. Rather, add them and after 20-30 seconds use the ladle to bend the noodles fully into the water. Continue to stir the sauce but reduce the heat. It should become thicker over time. The noodles should be done after 6-8 minutes. Strain and put back in pot (removed from heat). Add sauce and enjoy. Another trick, if available, is to add a can of tuna to the sauce in the beginning. Adding the entire can (fish and water and all) for some reason makes it really tasty but not fishy at all. You may like it. It is a personal favorite.
-Steevo
Post a Comment