The recent shootings in New town Connecticut, got me thinking. As with many of us it is not enough to be applaud. What is happening to our culture to our society and what can we do about it. Are these sorts of things that seem to be happening now not just on our streets but in our schools to be the price we pay for freedom. I am talking about the second amendment to the US Constitution. In this amendment we the people are guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms, It is true in this country therefore, that guns are not going to be banned. This begs the question how do we live within this culture of death, New town shootings being just one example while maintaining a culture of life. it .
The personal being political this blog is intended to be very broad. it will touch on all aspects of our culture all of our values and how we can implement them our values within a society of death that appears to by suffering for from a malaise but a mass form of insanity. Some may disagree with these posts, but hopefully all will ponder them. some may think some posts are trivial, for example I plan to start with a recipe -- what I ate today and how all of our habits are a life and death choice within a culture that supports death as a reasonable option. the Constitution insures the right to life and yet throughout out history in the United States we have had to fight for even this basic right with the forces of the culture of death. I for one will not stand ideally by will this force seems to be winning. So what can we do and how is my recipe a life or death choice and how does it support and environment my own environment the one I decided on just how does it support life.
So today I started with some beans -- pinto beans, Cadia brad organic pinto beans. These were soaked over night in the refrigerator where I live in tap water. the beans were placed in a pan with more water and set to boil. After reaching the boiling point, the heat wax set to let the beans simmer. I did not get a photo of the finished product yet to show. This shall be rectified for future posts.
Next I cut the vegetables. Green peppers, red peppers, and a red onion. This recipe is for one person but you can adjust the volume the ingredients and their cooking shall be focused on here. Zucchini is next washed and sliced. There is something self nurturing about preparing a meal. I could have gone up to the local fast food joint and had quickly prepared food put in paper bags with designed containers and prepared just as everyone else has them, or I could have simply walked up to the corner 7/11 store for a couple of slices of pre-prepared pizza. Emm I have always loved pizza and at a dollar a slice. I could have been finished with my meal before I was home. Or I could as so many do dined in my car.
But how do those choices which might be seen as self nurturing be seen as supporting an environment of life. Corporate food is yummy. I have nothing against corporations. No this is not a site for anti-corporate raging. Like everyone else in the culture of death corporations are made of people and as a collective they make either life affirming choices for us all or choices that line them up with the culture of death.
So, the zucchini was sliced and the slices halved. What next? Well tofu. Bean curd cake soy protein. This was super firm organic as were all the ingredients to this point and seasoned. Organic super firm garden seasoned tofu from the local "brown rice" store Follow Your Heart. I prefer to go to this local smaller store rather than one of the larger health food chains such as sprouts -- there is one close by -- because well they have what I want organic pinto beans fruits and vegetables and it is the only place I can find this particular form of tofu. Anything else to be added. Not at this time. Oh yes a clove of organic garlic to chase the blues away.
Socking the beans for 24 hours is essential to ct the cooking time otherwise they would take three or four hours to absorb the water that makes them tender and edible unleash you prefer the and crunchy variety.
I prefer to eat organic, and I believe this to be life affrming rather than death affirming. Question are genetically engineered foods life affirming or death affirming? And how can one guarantee since there are no labeling requirements that one is getting food that is not genetically engineered, since those who make them well corporations are not required to label who the are produced. To me the only way to surely get non-genetically engineered food is to eat organic only those foods certified by the government to be organic can be guaranteed not to be genetically engineered. Again this is not a site for ranting against the government either. Like corporations they are made up of people People who make decisions some life affirming descions and some decision that support the culture of death. I do not think that genetically engineered food is life affirming. You may disagree, and I would love to hear how not just that genetically engineered food is not harmful or ok or nothing wrong with it but please how does eating producing genetically engineered food support creating an environment of life?
So the cut organic vegetables are placed in with the simmering beans. These should take an hour and one half to complete the cooking process and be pleasant to eat. To make them a little more pleasant to taste I did dd some pico de Gallo some chili powder and some salt as they were cooking. About on half hour before the beans were to be ready I set two cups of water to boil again tap water and once boiling I added one cup of the obligatory organic Cadia lng grain yes you guessed it brown rive. When set to simmer the rice pan was covered for thirty minutes. Of course at twenty five minutes I like to turn off the heat under the rice completely.
Prior this I prepared the tortillas. These were unfortunately not organic, but they will do for now. Mission brand I believe. To these two tortillas were added four rather thin slices of vegan gourmet mozzarella. this is a non-dairy soy product that is used in place of cheese it is yummy and has the added value of not cumming from a genetically engineered animal that is shot up with hormones anti-biotics and treated well in an abusive manner. Of the preceding characteristics which ones support life? Which ones support a culture of death and how do they support such a culture. The tortillas and garnish were placed in the micro wave for one minute.
Ok everything is now ready. spoon the beans and vegetables on to the tortillas and vegan gourmet spoon the rice on top of it all roll the tortillas in burrito fashion. Too much rice you might say. Well put the rest in the fridge for tomorrows meal. I eat once per day and find this to be not only life sustaining but yummy and satisfying. You? so wrap 'em up put any left over beans on the top of the burritos, call the kids that's a wrap.
The phrase culture of death comes from the pro-life movement, and while I may disagree with many of their methods I do not disagree with their goal/ Is there do you think a connection between our seemingly tolerance of shootings in our schools and the abortion of 300,000 human beings each year? Which of these is life affirming? What kind of attitudes have we adopted and allowed to flourish since Roe v. Wade? How has the country changed since then? Are we more life affirming or have we become on a continuum more of a culture of death more sensitized to atrocities?
