Have
you ever noticed a strange smell in your house? It's more common in
the country than in the city. Smells like a dead animal but you
can't locate it? Don't be surprised. You're not equipped to.
Evolution may have improved your intellectual standing above the
“lower” animals, but it has taken away much of your ability to
locate and identify odors and their sources. Most of us don't eat
roadkill or its variants, so why be able to identify and locate it?
Cats
For Rent would solve this problem at a rate cheaper than an
exterminator. No white jackets and fancy equipment. Just some
hungry cats (they haven't been fed in days – it lowers costs and
improves results) that are let loose in your residence. If they
can't find the source quickly, no exterminator can. And in
addition to cash for their owner, you've provided food for starving
animals. It's all very green.
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Who's
around to hear what people will say at his funeral. OK. At a roast
of an entertainment star people speak up while you're still alive,
but they usually insult you for the laughs. Very nice, very
friendly, and totally insincere.
What
you really want to hear are compliments – whether deserved or not.
That's insincere too, but you want to take it seriously, and you want
the guests to do so as well. Some of what the speakers say will be
true but most will be exaggerated. So what. It's the first time in
your life (wrong word?) that you're shown the respect you think you
deserve. But you never hear it. The words either don't get into
that wood box, or you don't hear them for some other reason.
There's
batting practice before a baseball game, rehearsals before a show
opens, and even preplanning of a funeral. Why not include the
rehearsal of a funeral service so the guest of honor will hear the
accolades. He can even edit and add to them so no one will be
unaware of the accomplishments he considers most important, but which
would probably be omitted by those who don't know him a well as he
does. Or are less impressed by the “accomplishment's”
importance. And he can suggest “slaps” at those who offended
him.
It
would be a good money raiser for the funeral home and, with an
unhealthy meal following, there may be some heart attacks that will
up the earnings..
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There's
a spate of accusations of sexual abuse going around. They're usually
blamed on men and attributed to DNA that lets testosterone run loose,
and society's willingness to overlook the idea that “boys will be
boys.”
Those
are certainly contributing factors, but not the critical ones.
Periodically we read about a female predator – usually a
school teacher or someone in industry who heads a department or
section. In those instances, testosterone isn't the issue – power
is. Control. Women took advantage of men or boys who feared that
their rejection of their superior (or squealing) would result in
punishment, while acceptance of the “opportunity” would lead to
advancement. As Lord Acton said, “Power corrupts.”
Which
leads me to a simple solution, and a chance to kill two birds with
one stone. (Actually two directly and others in passing.) The
answer is to bar men from leadership positions in all fields until a
clear pattern of sexual abuse by women is established. The “one
stone” of which I wrote would, along the way,
immediately shatter the “glass ceiling.” (Other likely results
would be that there would be a change in the pattern of wage
inequality – perhaps only the direction – and an alteration in
birthrate statistics.) What the Hell. It's worth a try.
November 21, 2017
