RaspberrySwirl wrote:
I'll try to tread gently and hopemy usual gift for words helps me now....I'm quite certain it has a lotto do with how and where you are raised. I understand and I'm sure Pamdoes to, how you could feel uneasy with a practice you are not familiarwith.
Very nicely put, Raspberry. I wanted to comment on the point that itdoes have a lot to do with where you are raised and what you are usedto. I'll use a different situation than putting animals down to make mypoint. I have two friends who birthed their children at home. At first,all I could think of was, "ARE YOU CRAZY?". And then of course Iwondered how they could 'risk' doing something that important at home.But the more I spoke with them about the issue, and this was over thecourse of a couple of years, I began to see what a beautiful experienceit was for them. I ended up coming to the conclusion that I wished Icould have done it myself!
Most of us are used to having 'professionals' do things for us thatpeople used to always do themselves. People used to birth their ownbabies, take care of their own dead, butcher their own meat (I could sonever wring a chickens neck!) etc. No, I'm not saying we need to goback to an 'old' way of live because we have made wonderful strides inmedical and sanitary practices which have greatly improved our lives,but on the other hand that doesn't mean that you have to throw out thebaby with the bathwater, either. The homebirths these families did weredone with intelligence and caution and in tandem with a doctor andhospital.
Back to the other issue: I didn't grow up around hunting or guns, b/cmy dad is into opera and cooking, but with my husband's family it is away of life. I don't like it, but I'm not against it either. My husbandhas taken great pains to teach my son gun safety and integrity inhunting practices. (one big no-no in hunting is that you NEVER shootsomething and then just leave it in the woods, i.e. shoot something forno good reason. Dh will stay in the woods for hours until he finds theanimal. Once he couldn't find a deer that he was pretty sure he shotand I thought he would never get over it. Now this may offend someoneelse, believe me I could never hunt, but these people are not thebackwards idiots they are portrayed as in the media sometimes. Thereare goofy people from every ideal on the planet, but they are not thenorm)
Pam's son has been taught to be responsible and do the right thing,which is harder than keeping an animal around who is in pain b/c youwant someone else to do it. He has been taught to be humane about it,all while taking care of his mother and younger sibling. I wish morechildren were taught these values. He will grow up to be a valuablehusband and father, and we could use a lot more of these.
I hope nobody minds my .02!
