Saturday 21 December 2013

Strange Customs

Earthlings have strange customs.

Newborns are celebrated as lifetime achievements whereby people congratulate each other,  that which occurs  in the animal kingdom as ordinary events resulting from sexual relations between male and female.

Dogs have babies, cats have babies, pigs have babies, elephants have babies, even mice have babies, all as a result of sexual relations between male and female. It happens all the time in the animal kingdom, day in, day out, without fanfare of any sort. You have sex, the female gets pregnant, a baby is born. Simple as that. What's all the fuss about? What makes it an achievement of a lifetime?

A kingdom may have cause to celebrate the royal birth of a son, an heir to the throne, but who's to say he will rule as wisely as his father did? Who's to say he won't bring about ruination instead? Is celebrating his royal birth not presumptuous in such a case? What about all the illegitimate children sired by the king as happens when a king's sexual appetite overflows from the royal bedroom into the royal harem? Are they celebrated when they are born? Are they not swept under the royal carpet as dirty royal secrets instead?

You have sex, the female gets pregnant, a baby is born. What's so difficult about that? Happens all the time in the animal kingdom, day in, day out, from the largest creature to the smallest. What's all the fuss about?

Another strange custom is celebrating the aging process each year with birthday cakes and party hats from childhood until old age. What's so joyous about indirectly celebrating the onset of inevitable death as people approach it with the passage of time from childhood to old age?

Mighty strange customs indeed hath earthlings.



Sunday 20 October 2013

Ritual Cleansing & Dead Bodies

A dead human body is the most unclean of all unclean things on earth according to the Law of Moses which, incidentally, the Ten Commandments were derived from.

Coming into contact with, say, a dead animal or creature of any sort, renders the person concerned ceremonially unclean, in which case the person concerned may not set foot in the temple, the first one built by King Solomon incidentally, or participate in any religious ceremony conducted within.

He / she shall be required to bathe and wash his / her clothes as well as everything he / she may have touched while still remaining unclean until evening, the washed items included. The uncleanliness in such a case lasts for one day. Incidentally, the same is true in the case of uncleanliness resulting from sexual relations with one's spouse.

The uncleanliness in the case of contact with a dead human body, however, without subjecting oneself to ritual cleansing, a ritual involving what's known as the water of cleansing made from ashes and blessed by no less than a Levite, a designated temple priest, within seven days, lasts forever.

Even being in the same room with a corpse renders one unclean, let alone actually touching it.

What does someone who has a high regard for this particular statute of Moses' but without access to such a purification ritual do where deceased friends or relatives are concerned, since it is known that what Moses instructed the Israelites to do were not from his own mouth?

In the case of a very close relative, I suppose one may turn a blind eye to the fact that one shall be rendered eternally unclean by contact with, say, a dead mother or father. After all, what choice does one have in such a case?


In the case of friends or their close relatives however, I suppose they shall just have to make up their own minds as to why one does not show up at their doorsteps to show one's respects to the deceased person concerned, should such an event come to pass, since anything to do with Moses, except for those sacred Ten Commandments, the first ten out of over six hundred incidentally, is considered archaic in these parts anyway.

Sunday 22 September 2013

A New Car In The Garage

Forgive me if my handshake for my new sister-in-law is cold
For I have but one sister-in-law,
And this is not her.

Was my sister-in law traded in like an old car you no longer had any use for
For this new wife of yours I'm supposed to accept as my new sister-in-law?
Forgive me if my eyes find it difficult to meet hers
For I have but one sister-in-law
And this is not her.

Was my sister-in-law traded in like an old fridge whose usefulness had been outlived
For this new spouse of yours I'm obliged to accept as my new sister-in-law?
Forgive me if my mouth finds it difficult to speak to her
For I have but one sister-in-law
And this is not her.