- Love
Love is a concept that I cover frequently on my blog in one way or another. I also ask questions about the lack of love that I see in humanity. I must admit, most of my questions come from the basic dilemma of wanting to be a loving dog despite having been so badly hurt in the past. I get confused because humans so often “say one thing and do the other.”
So, I write a lot of blog entries about this conundrum! Here are my three favorites…
#3. Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Don’t feed the bad dog within! In this blog post, I lay out one of the basic elements of Paulo Freire’s educational philosophy. I had read several of Freire’s books and applied them to various current social justice issues. My assessment of humanity is that individuals don’t easily fit into categories like “oppressor” and “oppressed”, and that actions need to be taken on a case-by-case basis.
The “oppressor within each human” wants to feed what I call the bad dog, but if humans did that, then they themselves would become oppressors, too. Freire acknowledged this paradox, and was widely criticized for his logical conclusion that it is only the oppressed who are capable of the kind of love prerequisite for liberation.
But think about it– How could an oppressor be capable of showing love?
- Love Every… even geese.
#2. SOLIDARITY: Appalachian Coal + Shale Gas + Tar Sands Last summer was certainly a big summer for environmental activism, and in this post I connect the dots between environmental justice and social justice. It’s not a very abstract picture; in fact, things are quite clear, as I said:
“Deep down, there’s a solid connection between how humans treat the environment and how they treat what is in it. Those who love, love every.”
The concept of love is truly unique to humanity, but few humans stop and think about the connection between love and creativity. If God created humanity from the earth, and if to dust humans will return, then a human’s behavior toward his or her source material is a reflection of gratitude, of love of life itself. In short, love is about more than just loving humans. Loving the earth and all that is in it isn’t hokey. It’s natural.
Or, as our new bumper sticker says, “Dogs are people, too.”
#1. Where is the love? This is probably one of my favorite posts I’ve ever written because it is short and because it links to a truly fabulous song by the Black Eyed Peas. Basically, both the song and the post ask the same thing– where is the love?
I take the BEP’s question a bit further and ask, What is it that I’ve come to know as love, and Why do I think that this is love? In other words, Where did I get this concept of love from in the first place? From my master? Or from the man who let me be a stray back when I was just a puppy? My questions are classic Foucault. Enjoy the post!
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PS. A special thank you goes out today to the hosts of Northeastern PA Blogs. They are reviewing my blog on WBRE’s PALive!, which airs today from 4-5PM (EST). The link back to NEPABlogs is here: http://nepablogs.blogspot.com/2012/02/pa-live-blog-of-week-adamaecompton.html
ada.mae.compton 
Great post. It is often difficult to understand huge concepts and it is easy to feel overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness. Tall person told me that it helps to look into yourself, as each of us is a microcosm of humanity. He wrote a poem about this.
THE KEY
I thought my soul
Was like a garden
Safe behind a wall
But now I’m not
So sure.
When I was young
The door was always open
And I didn’t need a key
And I took many people there
And many took from me,
Stealing fruits of feelings
Like apples from a tree,
Pretending they were sharing
Whilst taking parts of me.
But they never had to steal
For everything was free
But they did it
When my eyes were turned
As I pretended not to see.
So I wrote above my door
The letters of the words
That say it all,
‘Take what you want,
If you need it
You can have it all’.
And I always had the hope
That the next one
Through the door
Would be different from before.
And I’m still waiting
And I’ve never closed the door
But they always
Come away
With more,
Eroding at my Soul
Like waves against a shore.
And now I sit
With my back against the wall
And hold the key
And try to tell myself
I shouldn’t lock the door
To me.
I’ve asked myself
A hundred times
And every time
I find the answer
In a rhyme…….
‘The door is always open,
My Soul is there to share,
You only have to ask
And you’ll be there’.
………………………………
By Mike Day,
20 July 1984
Indeed, Bassas, each member of the pack is a reflection of the pack. Thank you SO much for sharing! Woof!
I totally agree that we should all love the land we live in and everyone in it – including us dogs.