UPDATED: I "paraphrased" ZOMBUNNY'S potty mouth statement!!!!
Great Lent is upon us. This means Easter is not far off. We bunny nuts know what that means. It means that shelters, rescues, and ditches will be overrun with bunnies that are not so cute as the day they were given to some snot nosed kid for a gift. It means baby bunnies who have outlived their five minutes of ooh and ah and cuteness will be chewing on their hutch and cage bars, destroying wires and cords, pooping everywhere, scratching the shit out of furniture and people, and eating eating eating. It means they will be inconvenient little toss-away creatures that no one cares about anymore.
Campaigns like Make Mine Chocolate do their best to get the word out that bunnies make for bad gifts, that they are not toys, but real, sentient, willful, living, breathing creatures that require a lot of care and love. Yet every Easter, more and more rabbits are BRED and SOLD specifically for Easter gift-giving.
I think we Rabbit lovers need to get a little more militant, a little more guerrilla, in our tactics. Let's stop being so damned nice and politic about the truth.
I love the work by an artist named Byron Rempel. Check out his blog here. When I commented to him on Google Plus that he needed to have a bunny zombie, he sent his blog link for Zombie Easter Bunny. Does this kick ass or what?! IF ONLY this awesome bunny could hippity hoppity down the bunny trail at Easter, I think we could make some headway in the Make Mine Chocolate campaign! Chocolate bunnies don't bite back when you nibble on their ears!
Zombunny says "MAKE YOURS CHOCOLATE, MEATBAGS!"
Classic!Hmmm when I get back I think we will have to start reminding everybody,xxRachel
ReplyDeleteI warned that there was explicit language. Not mine of course, I was just quoting Zombunny! He has a real potty mouth!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely been there, Brandi. God bless your heart and your intentions, but, I want to know more about Great Lent, too. When does it start? What are the rules? I think Saints are very practical, but haven't seen any additional postings lately.
ReplyDeleteJane, I am just having some issues of faith right now. I vacillate between wanting to delete that blog altogether, as I am feeling a bit hypocritical lately. In truth, it may be that my love for The Mother of God and my patron saint(s) is the only thing keeping me Christian at the moment.
DeleteBut Great Lent is a time of trials and bittersweet darkness for the soul, a sort of Joy in Sorrow, as it said, so maybe I will find my faith again in that wasteland.
Dostoyevsky said "It is not like a child that I believe in Christ. My faith was forged in the furnace of doubt".
I don't want to say much, Brandi. It is not really for me to say, but I wish there were a better understanding that these are liturgical seasons and while they can be full of grace, it may also be that God at any given time may want something else for us. Faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love. He prayeth best who loveth best all creatures great and small. You remember all that and because of your great love I cannot worry too much about your present trial. There are theologians who believe we exist to receive the gifts of God. Receive them. So many of the saints had wonderful relationships with animals. It always comes out as a "detail" of their lives. I would be sorry to see your page go, but it can always be brought back if and when you feel it is appropriate. I want the people I worship with to write and care more about all the lives and breathes, but that is just my struggle right now. If some person is failing or disillusioning you now, remember what our Lord's choice of Judas was in part perhaps meant to help us understand and endure. People will always disappoint us, but we are still all the children of God. Journey, my dear friend, and God be with you.
ReplyDelete...all that lives and breathes...the livingness of this world...
DeleteAnd those theologians believe that the greatest gift is God.
ReplyDelete...trial or blessing, whichever it is...
ReplyDeleteI think part of the "maturing" process of Christianity, especially Eastern Christianity, is wading through the doubt caused by the realization that there is really nothing physical to prove that Christ is God. There is no proof. The bible is flawed, fallible, and written by flawed, fallible, sinful, willful men. The bible is no proof of God whatsoever. It is a contradictory collection of writings that have done more harm than good over the centuries. The Church was correct in wanting to prevent copies of it for mass distribution. Nothing good came of common men armed with "God's Word", which is not really God's word at all. The bible was NEVER meant to be known to the laity outside of the Liturgy.
DeleteThis does not disturb me so much, though. Eastern Orthodox Christianity is not just Holy Scripture, but Holy Tradition. Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture are both useless with each other for that very reason: BOTH ARE FLAWED and each fills the emptiness the other brings to the party.
I get this way sometimes. I have always believed these negative things about scripture, but never had the nerve to voice them, even silently in my head. Now I do. I am coming to a point where I know I am an insignificant little ant that cannot move the rubbertree plant, but I am not afraid to shake my fist at God anymore. He can crush me like an insect whether I am a sycophant or raging at him, either way. I think I would rather be honest with Himself and myself. My love does not change, it may even be that I love Him more for wanting to hit him with my fists and demand that he answer for all the shit in the world. Sorry, I just do not buy into original sin anymore.
Somewhere in all the flaws and confusion, the contradiction and rage, there is Grace.
Brandi, I just came back from the afternoon hay feeding at the shelter. It feels so good to be absolutely exhausted from making bunnies happy. We have a new little bunny who just begs to be petted every time someone passes by. I asked several volunteers if I could put her under my shirt and slip out with her. They all said yes. What am I going to do? Another little bunny head that gives life meaning.
ReplyDeleteBetter steal that baby while you can!!
DeleteThank you, Brandi. I just knew I could count on you for the right answer. Now there is one other little matter - can my precious, precious little baby and I sleep on your couch for a few years. Papa Bear is not into this.
DeleteLet me elaborate...I used to have a supervisor who was from Sweden. She had almost NO accent, BUT, when flustered, it really came out! See, she was thinking in Swedish, but could not get the translation into English fast enough. I discovered this weakness in her early on. Now, this was many a year ago, when I was younger and more brassy-balled and, well, ebil. Not quite EVIL, but cutely evil, which, as I have explained a time or two on the bunny blogs, makes one EBIL.
DeleteI found with her that the best defense was an offense. If I were getting into trouble, I would launch a shock-and-awe verbal campaign of epic proportions. I can gesticulate like the most angry Italian mama, I can lay a guilt trip like the most neglected Jewish mama. So I would divert the conversation into a rapid fire response divert all the trouble to anything and anyone and EVERYONE while asking her questions, etc. I got her so flustered, she could not even get her English out correctly. It was easier to just let me be, let me do my job, my way (which was always correct in my opinion, AND in actuality) and drop the issue at hand altogether. Yes, I was an EBIL genius. I am both ashamed and proud to say this...
This tactic was used on several other supervisors, to varying degrees of success. My last resort to use on the most disciplined minds was tears. I am a girl and all girls are capable of tears on command. Not all girls use it, but I say, if it is in your arsenal, USE IT! I only did, like I said, as a last resort. We are talking, out of breath, big wide eyes filled with tears, trembling lips, quivering chin, snot...the whole damned thing. It has never failed. Except with my youngest son who knows that I am quite full of shit.
It is a matter of having my way. If I want something bad enough, nothing will stop me from attempting to get it. That includes my baby bunneh wunnehs. My husband knows my tears are of the crocodilian nature, but it is easier to give in knowing I have resorted to such tactics by my desperation. Who knows what crazy assery I will attempt if tear fail...Better to not test fate!
Brandi, I want my Bunneh Wunneh and I want to be you. Would you consider a summer camp experience for weenie women?
ReplyDeleteI am just not convinced you are a weenie. It is very humbling, this thing you are telling me. I am not a strong woman. I just simply have very little regard for men. I find them to be flaky and inconsistent and hormone driven, basically everything they accuse us women of being. I happen to know that women are the far superior gender. Very Very VERY few men have ever won my trust, respect, regard.
ReplyDeleteI guess I should be thankful for the assortment of swinging dicks that have tried and sometimes succeeded in molesting me as a child and teen. It turned me into a near man-hating bitch.
I am so sorry. It helps explain your courage and fierce protectiveness and your love of animals and hatred of all injustice, but I would give anything if you had been kept safe. Juana
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as safe for a child. The moment someone thinks there is safety, their guard is let down and the unthinkable and unimaginable happens.
ReplyDeleteChildren are like rabbits. They are helpless and defenseless and the whole world is their enemy, ready to devour them.
If that had not happened to me, I would have to wait as an adult for my reality check. For some reason, I find that adults do not handle reality checks very well.
Right you are, Brandi.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post and I'm going to share it on twitter! Those pics are hilarious - Jimmy Carter's swamp rabbit??? hahahahaha!!!
ReplyDeleteJEEZ I just realized that I broke into an amazing and deep and funny and awful and wonderful conversation, full of spiritual angst, desperate tears, plans of bunny theivery, childhood trauma, and amazon viking awesomeness! I always leave your blog thinking man I'm glad to know her.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you feel this way and not leaving my blog thinking that you would hate to be the poor bastards that have to live with me!
DeleteShare all you want. I am not the only person in the world with childhood trauma that encourages bunny theivery.