Friday, October 13, 2006
If The Cows Are Out, The Fence Needs Mending
Branding cattle at my uncle’s three-hundred acre, Montana farm remains one of my most vivid childhood memories. Each year family and friends would rendezvous with lunches, horses and an eagerness to be cowboys and wrestle calves to the ground. On one memorable occasion several of us younger city slickers were given the chore of keeping some of the cattle from wandering away from the branding area. The cattle were nervous and so were we. Eventually a few of the cattle began heading in the wrong direction. When our initial efforts to stop them did not seem to be working we began shouting and flailing our arms. This spooked the cattle so that one of them put her head down and charged an eight inch fence post, sheering it off at it’s base. A stampede ensued. In just a few minutes a dozen or more cattle had escaped.
I was amazed at how easily the cow snapped the fence post, but the broken fence, in itself, was not our big problem now. Because of this one hole in the fence, the potential for many problems was created:
The cattle could be lost or stolen.
The scattering animals could easily break a leg or get bogged down in a muddy field or irrigation ditch.
Cows could be hit while crossing the road, thereby injuring or killing the cows and/or the motorists.
The cattle could get into vegetation that would cause them to become sick.
Loose cows might destroy gardens or crops.
One breech – many problems. Furthermore, anyone who might have seen those dozen cattle along the roadside would immediately conclude that someone’s fence needed mending.
Our nation is experiencing a plethora of troubling societal problems:
Since 1999, 225 of our children have been shot dead in our school houses. (National School Safety and Security Services)
Very few of our families are healthy and intact.
The list of company executives, elected official, religious leaders, teachers and other professionals that are making immoral choices appears to be exploding.
Nothing is sacred or off-limits in the entertainment industry. The airways are filled with combative talk shows, debasing reality shows, horror and every other kind of dehumanizing scheme.
One might think the problems are too many and unsolvable, however, the majority of these issues are simply the result of a few holes in our fences.
A host of societal problems could be solved if we would only mend our fences. Consider how much pain, suffering, disease, bickering, hate and death could be avoided if everyone in the world would simply choose to live by the commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14) If everyone in the world chose to adopt the moral standard of one man being faithful to one woman until death parted them, the following problems would disappear:
All rape and harassment
Sexually communicable diseases
Sexual abuse of children
Many divorces
Most abductions and serial murders
Unwanted pregnancies
Pedophilia
Abandoned children and absentee parents
Murders and attacks related to infidelity
One hole in the fence - many problems. If you really want to blow brain circuits consider what would happen if the world employed all ten commandments!
Isn’t it time that we returned to morals and values that served us all well? Haven’t you noticed all the fallout from removing the ten commandments from public view? How is it that good people feel strange or embarrassed if they vote to mend fences? Even if no one else is doing it, shouldn’t we repair the fences in our own lives? We need fences and we need to diligently maintain them; it is the smart, logical, safe, responsible thing to do.
It is only human to want to adopt the “Don’t Fence Me In,” philosophy, but maybe the cows can teach us a little something:
In the dead of night, two cows stepped through a hole in the fence line. As they ambled up onto the interstate and pondered the approaching lights of an eighteen-wheeler, one said to the other, “I feel so liberated.” The other cow replied, “Yeah, I’ve heard warnings about this, but everybody else is doing it.” Dumb cows!
I was amazed at how easily the cow snapped the fence post, but the broken fence, in itself, was not our big problem now. Because of this one hole in the fence, the potential for many problems was created:
The cattle could be lost or stolen.
The scattering animals could easily break a leg or get bogged down in a muddy field or irrigation ditch.
Cows could be hit while crossing the road, thereby injuring or killing the cows and/or the motorists.
The cattle could get into vegetation that would cause them to become sick.
Loose cows might destroy gardens or crops.
One breech – many problems. Furthermore, anyone who might have seen those dozen cattle along the roadside would immediately conclude that someone’s fence needed mending.
Our nation is experiencing a plethora of troubling societal problems:
Since 1999, 225 of our children have been shot dead in our school houses. (National School Safety and Security Services)
Very few of our families are healthy and intact.
The list of company executives, elected official, religious leaders, teachers and other professionals that are making immoral choices appears to be exploding.
Nothing is sacred or off-limits in the entertainment industry. The airways are filled with combative talk shows, debasing reality shows, horror and every other kind of dehumanizing scheme.
One might think the problems are too many and unsolvable, however, the majority of these issues are simply the result of a few holes in our fences.
A host of societal problems could be solved if we would only mend our fences. Consider how much pain, suffering, disease, bickering, hate and death could be avoided if everyone in the world would simply choose to live by the commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14) If everyone in the world chose to adopt the moral standard of one man being faithful to one woman until death parted them, the following problems would disappear:
All rape and harassment
Sexually communicable diseases
Sexual abuse of children
Many divorces
Most abductions and serial murders
Unwanted pregnancies
Pedophilia
Abandoned children and absentee parents
Murders and attacks related to infidelity
One hole in the fence - many problems. If you really want to blow brain circuits consider what would happen if the world employed all ten commandments!
Isn’t it time that we returned to morals and values that served us all well? Haven’t you noticed all the fallout from removing the ten commandments from public view? How is it that good people feel strange or embarrassed if they vote to mend fences? Even if no one else is doing it, shouldn’t we repair the fences in our own lives? We need fences and we need to diligently maintain them; it is the smart, logical, safe, responsible thing to do.
It is only human to want to adopt the “Don’t Fence Me In,” philosophy, but maybe the cows can teach us a little something:
In the dead of night, two cows stepped through a hole in the fence line. As they ambled up onto the interstate and pondered the approaching lights of an eighteen-wheeler, one said to the other, “I feel so liberated.” The other cow replied, “Yeah, I’ve heard warnings about this, but everybody else is doing it.” Dumb cows!
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