Thank you for this Adam. I can absolutely relate to your deep affection for working cattle. Please keep posting about them and the endavour. Its a very beautiful thing and I have a feeling some older people might get tears in their eyes seeing a team of oxen.
As for what happened to us ... and how did we get here I wonder if somebody has layed a curse on us. Maybe it was a simple " the most important thing is that you are happy" (.... that killed US, and made us forget everything but ourselves) I don't know but it is hellish that we have become the enemy of all we love. And it seems to be unbearable to turn the thing around, to renounce addiction in a culture of seeing that noble restraint as pathetic folly. Engaging with this takes me to places that are not sane, that makes me be doubt if this can be done ( by somebody like me) .
Not many smart words, but its the company - of people like you - that has so far kept me going over the edge for good.
I love how this essay brings such disparate elements together. I didn't know the origin of the word, "salary" or its relation to salt. The salt aspect reminds me of Frank Herbert's all-important SPICE on his planet Dune, and how human greed so often translates into the control of commodities, necessities, or that which is perceived as a necessity.
I like how your version of how we got here is framed as separation. I like it because separation *might* be more possible to fix than human greed.
You say, "the possibility of our shared life seems to be closing in around us at a rate difficult to describe in words." I assume you mean 'our shared life' in general, as a culture, not as something specific to you? I take it you are addressing the current political situation?
I wonder if you could clarify and/or elaborate if I have that wrong.
The counter currents and counter cultural movements towards connection, like yours, offer hope. In my town a local non-profit that works with urban youth has planted free snack beds throughout the city and offers pay what you can produce every Saturday.
What beautiful reflections! Congrats on the very fitting names for your calves! I enjoyed learning about the meaning behind the word salary. I have started a tradition with my family, where we make salt from saltwater, every trip to the beach and it's helped my kids appreciate salt much more.
Hey.
Thank you for this Adam. I can absolutely relate to your deep affection for working cattle. Please keep posting about them and the endavour. Its a very beautiful thing and I have a feeling some older people might get tears in their eyes seeing a team of oxen.
As for what happened to us ... and how did we get here I wonder if somebody has layed a curse on us. Maybe it was a simple " the most important thing is that you are happy" (.... that killed US, and made us forget everything but ourselves) I don't know but it is hellish that we have become the enemy of all we love. And it seems to be unbearable to turn the thing around, to renounce addiction in a culture of seeing that noble restraint as pathetic folly. Engaging with this takes me to places that are not sane, that makes me be doubt if this can be done ( by somebody like me) .
Not many smart words, but its the company - of people like you - that has so far kept me going over the edge for good.
Thank you Adam.
I love how this essay brings such disparate elements together. I didn't know the origin of the word, "salary" or its relation to salt. The salt aspect reminds me of Frank Herbert's all-important SPICE on his planet Dune, and how human greed so often translates into the control of commodities, necessities, or that which is perceived as a necessity.
I like how your version of how we got here is framed as separation. I like it because separation *might* be more possible to fix than human greed.
You say, "the possibility of our shared life seems to be closing in around us at a rate difficult to describe in words." I assume you mean 'our shared life' in general, as a culture, not as something specific to you? I take it you are addressing the current political situation?
I wonder if you could clarify and/or elaborate if I have that wrong.
The counter currents and counter cultural movements towards connection, like yours, offer hope. In my town a local non-profit that works with urban youth has planted free snack beds throughout the city and offers pay what you can produce every Saturday.
Thank you, as always, for your work.
What beautiful reflections! Congrats on the very fitting names for your calves! I enjoyed learning about the meaning behind the word salary. I have started a tradition with my family, where we make salt from saltwater, every trip to the beach and it's helped my kids appreciate salt much more.
I have been thinking a bit about salaries lately, so its history in salt and being uprooted was really interesting.
Lovely names for the calves!
Thank you. 🧡