November 21, 2014
3-Bird Turducken,
17-Bird Royal Roast and Global Responsibility
This is a grand example of why I am so cynical, sarcastic…and
feel like I have to claw my way out of this omnipresent, defeatist attitude
each and every day. I wake up and am
usually perusing the news from one of two devices before I ever leave the
sheets for some bladder relief.
Today I made it all the way to the computer at my desk
before seeing this. I was happy,
entertaining a new, empowered feeling that I had enough dough in the bank to
take a shooting road trip to explore more of my new home in North-Central
California during the Fall-to-Winter months.
Rain! Snow! Wonderful!!
Needed to shop for a couple of small necessities to further this quest
safely. But first – more news. It isn’t unlike iterative scientific research
for me – scanning headlines for something new, or for something worded a
slightly more intelligent way.
I hit CNN, The Guardian, BBCUK, Al-Jazeera, more. Then I land on my old favorite, NPR. The usual headlines…GOP sues Obama, colleges
and sexual assault, “they wouldn’t have nobody”… then the word ‘Turducken’
rings a bell. Fall, holidays, yup. The rest of the headline slid its way into my
psyche and I pondered it as it did, word then word…a comparison, a
competition. ‘This 3-Bird Turducken Has
Nothing On This 17-Bird Roast’. Really?
Without awaiting my next heartbeat, instant judgment and criticism.
Something I am trying constantly to combat within myself, in favor of a
more productive attitude (I’ll take this up in another article).
Turkey, Duck, Chicken.
OK, fine.
…Fuck. This is always what happens to me – I get an
idea, then I walk that idea mentally, I think or write or hopefully both,
having a thousand other thoughts as I navigate that first path. Not only do I want to tackle my own
personality again as I write this, pursuing a higher degree of self-awareness
and understanding, I want to take on the root of Thanksgiving and its (lack of)
evolution now as well. Sigh. New documents with new headlines. You should see my unfinished writing folders.
Attempting to stay this course, instead of seeing an article
on food (keep in mind I haven’t read it yet), I see this evolution on human
consumption and bitching. My fingers typed ‘botching’ at first, which also may have
its own relevancy here. Because we’re
always looking to outdo ourselves, we had three favorite celebratory eating
birds combined into one big roast as a more complete demonstration of our culinary
creativity. I recall years previous when
it gained popularity, thinking ‘why three’?
I got the foodie question – what’s more to love than being able to
appreciate expansively one of our most basic needs? But then it begs the question…don’t we have
people starving? Myself, likely quite a
few within hundreds of meters of where I am sitting? Isn’t three birds overdoing it a bit? OK, fine, overdo it once or twice a
year. But we in this country don’t. And, of course, I am speaking generally – I know
full well there are millions of people acting and eating as responsibly as they
know how, for themselves and everyone (everything)
else.
Thankstaking? Meh…and here I thought I was being so cool…it’s
out there a fair bit. Anyway…No. Thanksgiving. Instead of another indulgence into our own gluttony,
why not create some monumental movement to do some good for many? I keep thinking…what if we could keep our
personal consumption small, but combine the other dollars that would have been
spent to further something productive for everything on the planet?
Now, before I immediately sleep my computer and run off to
assist those who are trying to make a difference on this note, I’ll try to
complete my thought. I’ll also try to
shed the idea of running off to help, at least for today. I’m a horrible person.
Then there’s this NPR article. 17 birds??
Seventeen. I don’t think I’ve heard the chirp, whistle,
warble or ‘poor-will’ of more than a dozen species in the last six months, leaving
the alarming loss of our avian species for another article. Wait…19th-century reference in the
turkey drawing’s caption…? Will explore
that later. Might even read the
article. Must…resist…will get impression
out then adapt to new information accordingly.
Things probably haven’t changed.
Seventeen. I flare up at the thought. This entitlement of ours to do and eat whatever we want, as often as we want. On a whim, with no thought to anything beyond
our (entitled…) taste buds. And now, not having to wait for later. I know how the thinking has evolved, as it
has in so many arenas; that of early, innocent ignorance to that of apathy to
that of just-plain-don’t-give-a-shit-I-am-not-going-to-live-that-long-anyway-so-I-might-as-well-do-exactly-what-I-want. It doesn’t help that I saw our destroyed planet
in Interstellar last night for my 45th birthday, even though that
image lobbies my brain daily in various forms.
Why do I care when seemingly so many others do not? It is admittedly nice to see others thinking
the same way. There are so many of us
who want to make a difference, and we do – with the little things we do or don’t
do every single minute of our lives, overcoming the shadow of apathy. I don’t think those of us like that are better, I just think we have learned how
to pay and maintain a bit closer attention, especially in this world of
distractions. We all have our strengths
and weaknesses. …SQUIRREL!
“Stuffed, inserted, squeezed, thrown, inserted, introduced,
piled, wormed, shoehorned, kicked, rammed, shoved, jammed, wedged, logged
(meant to be lodged?), crammed”? Yeah, I
started reading the article. It
certainly doesn’t sound like fun from the perspective of those unfortunates who
happen to be lower on the food chain than ourselves. And, of course, in most cases they are
talking about the packing of one previously-living-thing up the anal cavity of
another. Weee. Yeah, they’re dead. We’re adept at making things dead. Nature is brutal…do we need to rub salt in it? Uh…scratch that…I already know the
answer.
What is this? This
yawning divide in attention among us. I
won’t fault people for their fun, just don’t turn a blind eye to the impact you’re
having. Seriously, I have a 2004 Jeep
Grand Cherokee I would love to ditch for a far more
responsible vehicle. We do what we can
when we are able, right? But, this doesn’t
appear to be…I digress. Where was
I. Crap.
Seventeen. I read the article. Two-hundred years ago. Early 19th-century indulgences, at
a time when there were only just over one billion people on the planet. In all likelihood, those partaking in these
feasts of non-famine were only the
royals and the incredibly well-to-do so the impact on nature was minimal. Today, what would happen if we were looking
at 100million households doing the
same thing, just in the US? We already
know what production of turkeys, ducks and chickens is like for our ‘normal’
day-to-day consumption.
As always, I try for a solution. How can we solve a problem like this? Sure, I’d love to see animals enjoy as much of
a normal, healthy life (quantifiable? 80, 90…95%?) for their species before
they’re ‘harvested’, humanely, as food?
I’d love to see everyone who wants to enjoy some culinary craziness like
this. Once in a blue moon. In moderation. That is really the word that underscores so
much of what we do these days, and far too few are willing to incorporate it
into their thinking. But even once a
year for this many people seems like too much.
Heh, great. Two headlines
below this one on npr.org (at this moment):
The Whole World Is Fat! And That Ends Up Costing $2 Trillion A Year
The Whole World Is Fat! And That Ends Up Costing $2 Trillion A Year
Maybe later.
© 2014 Michael Pichahchy
No comments:
Post a Comment