"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Paul to the persecuted at Philippi (2:5-11)

30 September 2009

Its a fake fake world.... (moved)

I just read a really solid WebMD article about how antibacterial soaps and such are probably making more "superbugs" out of our daily little virii. The article went on to say that the chemicals in them are staying around in our bodies, too, and probably aren't doing us much good, health wise, and may be doing us some long-term harm.

Then a friend forwarded me an article about how exposure to lawn chemicals has been shown to drastically increase the likelihood of childhood leukemia. Tell me something I don't know. Americans dump tons of chemicals on their yards each year, kids or no kids, and it runs off into our drinking water, too.

Then I got lectured by my mother about the dangers of raw milk, how it should be totally illegal because "somebody might" do whatever constructed paranoia she could come up with at the time.

And we all have heard that kids who live in super-tidy pet free homes have higher incidents of asthma and allergies.

Has it not occurred to anyone that the urge to create a pristine, clean, safe world could be part of what is slowly killing us? Perhaps a little dirt and clutter is good for the soul? Perhaps the unreality of Chlorox clean has robbed us of an appreciation of the raw, the gritty, and the beauty of the natural. Could it be that in our attempt to create unreality, we have forced ourselves do do exactly what we would rather die, as a society, than do; to face Genesis 3 and own up to the truth that nothing is safe, nothing is clean, nothing is pristine. Are we lying to ourselves? And in doing so, are we killing, hindering, laming, and robbing our children?

It's no longer about benefits and risks. There's more at stake here.



Let us not "regulate" our farmers' markets underground (as they are trying to do with supposed new FDA regulations).
Let us not be controlled by fear.
And let us not miss out on a few berries straight from the vine,
a farm fresh egg now and then,
a glass of unpasteurized cider,
a glass of milk from a cow we've met,
home made jam from an unregulated kitchen,
goodies from a church bake sale,
fresh bread from a neighbor's oven...
Let's not sacrifice these things on the altar of regulation, cleanliness.
Let us not sacrifice the feeling of cool grass under bare feet,
the beauty of a "native wild flower" that our neighbor thinks is a weed,
the natural balance of helpful insects,
the sweet product of a hive of honeybees
All lost for the sake of a lawn we grumble over mowing, a manicured lawn that is supposed to please the neighbors who neither live on the land, nor play on the land, nor so much as even glance at the property unless they would like to criticize.

Thanks, folks, but modern suburbia just isn't my scene.