Author [D.H. Lawrence] had quite the body of work that included wrote books, and poems. His works enjoyed a brief revival in 1997 after Viggo Mortensen's character in [G.I. Jane] recited his poem: "I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." Personally, I felt his novel [Aaron's Rod] had a very interesting idea (which is topical to the rest of the post), though, in my opinion, it ended three chapters too soon. Nevertheless, one of his quotes deserves some reflection:
There's always the hyena of morality at the garden gate, and the real wolf at the end of the street.
In his time, it's likely Mr. Lawrence didn't always spot the wolf right away. Most of us catch a toe on the first emotional crack in the sidewalk. Our own biases--and all of their baggage--trip us up. This is especially true today with politics and the "culture wars."
Moral outrage, and righteous indignation from pundants is great for ratings. In fact, this entry was inspired by the rant of a popular pundant. This person railed against the erosion of the "nuclear family," and implied to viewers that homes without a father (or I might add, a father figure) exist because of a morally flawed choice (or choices). This in turn acts as a societal cancer that creates poverty and fostered crime.
That hyena, the moral collapse of America--who I'll call Ed--is pretty scary (and yes hyenas are scary, just pop over to YouTube after you're done here). Yet, the real threat is out passed Ed with his braying laugh and bone-crushing teeth. The wolf, Phil, is all of the upstream issues--the real causes--that deprive homes of father figures, while Ed is just a symptom. For the purposes of this blog the obvious angle is incarceration as the main cause of absent father figures.
Yes, it is a major factor however, it too is also a symptom of larger problems in our society. To just point to prisons or legal jeopardy in this instance is disingenuous. Absent father figures might have died, be I'll (physically or mentally), or even have abandoned their family. It is here that the problem(s) exist, and where questions need to be asked and appropriate solutions applied.
Yet, to get here, to where Phil the wolf lives, at the end of the street, we have to first get around Ed and his antics, to force ourselves through the garden gate of our own biases, so we can find real solutions to the real problems.
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