Ethic Soup

Pet Blessings & The Ten Commandments From a Pet's Point of View: It'll Make You Cry Like a Baby

 
 

  

CHURCH PET BLESSINGS happen all year around, including Easter. The tradition began in the 4th century, with San Antonio de Abad, the patron saint of the animal kingdom, in a ritual of thanks for beasts of burden.

This week there were special pet blessings by churches across the country, including Los Angeles, Grand Rapids and Dallas. 

ON HOOF, FOOT & PAW

In Los Angeles, pets came out on "hoof, foot and paw" for the 81st annual blessing of the animals on Olvera Street, at the cobblestone plaza in downtown L.A. "with the sweet smell of fresh hay and manure," writes Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times.

"There were llamas, goats, geese and sheep. Parakeets, iguanas, goldfish and geckos. Turtles, horses, doves and a 25-pound albino python," wrote Felch. "And there were dogs. Hundreds of dogs. Dogs in tutus, leis and bunny ears. Dogs in bows and ribbons and T-shirts that read "Momma's Boy." 

It's Easter and Church Pews are Full: Unless You're in China

 
 
 

IT'S EASTER TODAY and a whole lot of prayers are being said. If you're one of those offering thanks to your Creator, give special thanks that you can celebrate your religion in a country that allows you that freedom and not a country like China.

I think most of us take this privilege for granted; we're so used to having it. America was formed so that those persecuted and denied religious freedom could have it.

Today China blocked more than 500 people from attending a planned outside Easter service -- actually blocking them from leaving their homes -- and detained more than 36 worshippers for attempting to attend religious services in Beijing, reports CNN.

Hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothes police swarmed the site of Shouwang Church, or Lighthouse, an underground Christian church. The church's senior pastor Jin Tianming is under house arrest. The church claims that 200 of its members have been arrested over the past month.

This church is considered an "illegal house," or unofficial church. Shouwang Church is an unregistered Christian group. There are an estimated 70 million Christians in China, but only 20 million attend government-approved churches, reports the BBC.

"The Chinese Communist Party tightly manages religious activity, requiring the faithful to join state-run churches, mosques or Buddhist temples," reports the New York Times.

"Sunday's worship ban came just days before an annual human rights dialogue between U.S. and Chinese diplomats scheduled for later this week in Beijing," said CNN.

CLICK & READ: "EASTER MEDITATION WITH MAYA ANGELOUS AND MARIAN ANDERSON"

CLICK & READ: "DANGER, DANGER: DON'T LET DOGS WOOFDOWN EASTER CHOCOLATES"

  

  by Sharon McEachern

A Few Needed Prayers: To Give Aid, To Eradicate Misery

 
When you cannot hide from awareness of the world's natural disasters, and then add to that knowledge of all the wars being fought in the world today...what do you do?

It's easy to put a few dollars in an envelope and send it off to a charity or two to help. It's harder to force yourself to try to not forget, taking the time and soul-energy to offer up a prayer or two. Both kinds of giving are sorely needed, along with acknowledgement of our great good fortune not to personally be in the middle of one of those natural disasters or wars, if you are so lucky.

For those not as fortunate as yourself, consider the following two prayers:

  
 

 Prayer to Eradicate Misery

We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world:

that understanding triumph over ignorance,

that generosity triumphs over indifference,

that trust triumphs over contempt, and that truth triumphs over

falsehood.

 
 

Buddhist Prayer to Give Aid 

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

May I become at all times, both now and forever

A protector for those without protection

A guide for those who have lost their way

A ship for those with oceans to cross

A bridge for those with rivers to cross

A sanctuary for those in danger

A lamp for those without light

A place of refuge for those who lack shelter

And a servant to all in need.

 

  

 

 by Sharon McEachern

  Artist & Blogger

 

Live Animal Key Rings: Torture for Turtles & Goldfish

 

ETHICS are most important when the potential victims of the unethical are most often powerless. At least, that's what I believe. Just think of who are easily and most often abused -- those who are children, mentally-ill, disabled, elderly and animals.

And when people are purposefully cruel in order to make money off the powerless, they are the lowest of the low.

Here's a current example vendors in China are selling live animal key chains, attached to an airtight plastic baggie with a tiny Brazilian turtle or two goldfish -- and very little oxygen for them to breathe.

A Poem for Elizabeth Taylor's Passing

 

At the funeral of Elizabeth Taylor, her friend, actor Colin Farrell read   from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, "The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo," which includes the lines "Give beauty back, beauty, beauty, beauty, back to God, beauty's self and beauty's giver."

In this poem, Hopkins echoed the Bible verse that every hair of our head is numbered. Matthew 10:30 says "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

An English Jesuit priest, Hopkins (1844-1889) was renowned for his creative use of language and rhythm. For example, this passionate phrase: "Or a jaunting vaunting vaulting assaulting trumpet telling."

In the New York Review of Books, Brad Leithauser said: "Of the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins it might be said that he's difficult only if you try to understand him. A reader might reasonably choose not to."

I agreed with him on my first reading of the poem, read silently to myself. And then I found an absolutely wonderful tape of Richard Burton -- the man Elizabeth Taylor married twice -- reading the poem. His reading was brilliant, breathtaking. And I understood, and was moved.

Death Takes Elizabeth Taylor: "Beauty Back, Beauty, Beauty, Beauty, Back to God"

 

AND SO IT BEGINS...the legend Elizabeth Taylor, whom many claim was one of the most beautiful women in the world, died just two weeks ago. Now, as the world says goodbye, the greedy buggers begin cashing-in on her death. Not that many didn't use her great beauty to make money before, but now it's a whole new game. 'Hot damn. Let's make some money. She's dead now.'

They forget, or don't want to acknowledge: you can't take it with you -- not your beauty, not your money.

BEAUTY'S SYMBOL FOR MILLIONS

Now, just days after Taylor's death, arrangements have been made by financier Steve Jones to auction-off his Andy Warhol portrait of Elizabeth Taylor. The 1963 silkscreen picture "Liz #5 "(pictured above), will be auctioned at Phillips de Pury in New York on May 12. It's expected to fetch $20 million to $30 million, according to the Financial Times.

Another Warhol portrait of Taylor, "The Men in Her Life," from 1962, stunned dealers when it was sold, at the same auction house, for $63.4 million last year.