Try a Little Tenderness Toward Existence
Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.
Rumi
Today I’ve picked a couple of different observances to discuss, this morning it was National Popcorn Day, and now this afternoon we’re discussing Tenderness Toward Existence Day. When I started to read about this holiday I was immediately struck by an Otis Redding earworm, I could not get Try a Little Tenderness out of my head.
Oh she may be weary
Them young girls they do get wearied
Wearing that same old shaggy dress, yeah, yeah
But when she gets weary
Try a little tenderness, yeah, yeah
The song opens, and Otis sounds weary too. The buildup is slow, almost painstaking. And then, before we know it, when we’ve reached the crux of the song, it’s like the words are being pulled straight from Redding’s soul…
You got to squeeze her, don’t tease her, never leave
You got to hold her, brother, something, man
Try a little tenderness, yeah, yeah, yeah
At this point, rather than a slow plaintive build-up, the horns are going, and the rhythm section is driving it all home. The music is infectious, my feet are tapping, my butt is moving.
Whatever he’s trying, I’d like some too please.
Tenderness Toward Existence Day
Here’s National Today’s take on Tenderness Toward Existence Day:
Tenderness Toward Existence Day is celebrated on January 19 every year. It is a special day to celebrate the quiet feeling of warmth, joy, and connection with all creatures on this beautiful planet we call home. There are 7.9 billion people who live on Earth, and we all share our home with over 8.7 million other species. Every single one of these species is unique and plays an important role in their environment. All creatures are dependent on each other, and we are dependent on them. Every life has value, and that value is what we celebrate on this day.
Isn’t that nice? Maybe that’s not the best word, it’s probably a lot better than nice. Awesome. Maybe even splendiferous?
It’s something I feel more keenly when I’m backpacking, no matter whether Otis Redding is singing in my mind or not! I think I feel a genuine tenderness towards existence when I’m hiking and backpacking, probably because I am in direct contact with the land, my feet are feeling the ground’s reality, that we are all interconnected.
If, we truly all interconnected, then hurting you would be the same as hurting myself. Right?
History Of Tenderness Towards Existence Day
Tenderness Toward Existence Day is not a very old holiday. It was instituted in the 2000s and has been celebrated on January 19 ever since. It is not the kind of holiday that’s talked about in the news. It is a quieter, more personal celebration of humanity’s connection with all living beings. We must recognize we are not alone on this planet, and we cannot survive alone. It is a great day to acknowledge that every life has value. ‘Existence’ simply means ‘life,’ ‘the state of living,’ from the Latin words ‘ex’ and ‘sistere,’ which mean ‘out’ and ‘to take a stand’ respectively. Tenderness means ‘sensitivity to pain,’ so we can say in essence that this holiday is about a sensitivity to the pain of every living thing.
With the rapid acceleration in human development, thousands and thousands of species of animals are going extinct every year. Human activity is solely responsible for this. Apart from poaching and the destruction of habitats, human beings are also responsible for killing their own kind. Millions of people are casualties of war, they suffer from hunger and poverty. Additionally, people suffer depression and other mental illnesses. This day is an important opportunity to acknowledge the suffering of all such people and extend a hand to help.
Humanity is capable of great compassion. As individuals, we all have the capacity for sympathy and empathy, to feel deeply for the creatures around us, for other people, and ourselves. This sense of deep affection, connection, and a desire to care for all living beings is what is expressed as tenderness. This is our greatest strength as a species and will be the key to our survival. Only if we let ourselves feel this tenderness, feel the need to look after the creatures of this planet, and care for them as we care for our own families, will we stop climate change and mass extinction.
National Today
Every Life Has Value – Except of Course Tamarisk, Asian Stink Bugs, etc.
My personal belief is that all life has value, from the smallest little single celled organism to the largest elephants and whales on Earth. In practical terms that has some limits. I’m more than happy to kill invasive organisms, things that just don’t belong where they are now found these days.
For instance, when we were swarmed by Asian Stink Bugs while vacationing in Shawnee National Forest this fall, I went all serial killer on those little fuckers. The Brown marmorated stink bug aka Asian Stink Bug is native to Japan, Korea, China, and some other asian nations. It doesn’t belong anywhere in this hemisphere.
When faced with a bug or critter that does not belong, that is an invasive, I tend to remove the pest with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately the move towards a global economy has also been a move towards the homogenization of nature.
Scourge of Western Waterways – Tamarisk
Tamarisk, for instance could be considered the McDonalds of invasive plants. Like a McDonald’s on every street corner, find a waterway and odds are you’ve found Tamarisk too, especially out West, but increasingly across the Midwest too.
In some specific riparian habitats in the Southwestern United States and California, Tamarix ramosissima has naturalized and become an important invasive plant species. In other areas, the plants form dense monocultures that alter the natural environment and compete with native species already stressed by human activity. Recent scientific investigations have generally concluded that the primary human-caused impact to desert riparian ecosystems within the Colorado River Basin is the alteration of the flood regime by dams; Tamarix ramosissima is relatively tolerant of this hydrologic alteration compared to flood-dependent native woody riparian species such as willow, cottonwood, and box elder.
Tamarix – Wikipedia
I do not live and let live with this plant. I pull up, hack, or otherwise destroy any Tamarisk I encounter. If I have a pet peeve in life it is this stuff. Along parts of the Colorado River Valley there is little left but Tamarisk.
Across miles and miles of river, a bare monoculture of a woody shrub that burns poorly with noxious clouds of oily smoke when it does ignite. Do not cook over a fire of Tamarisk if your value your tastebuds, it’s literally the worst wood I’ve ever tried to burn or cook with.
Live and Let Live – Not Exactly
I’d like to think I live up to high ideals, but I’m well aware of my own personal prejudices. I have respect for the lives of things that belong here. If you are an invasive, you should not be here, simple enough. I have difficulty respecting that.
My Buddhist mentor asked me once how I made these divisions in my life, how I came to Buddhism on my own terms with my own interpretation of right and wrong. I pointed out that he made those value judgements about issues, which issues and values he found to be compelling were all his choices.
I told him that I was probably a very poor Buddhist, but that I saw no contradiction with killing a wasp before I was stung. The wasp’s nature is to sting, repeatedly if necessary, to defend itself. Fair enough. But my nature is also to defend myself. If you sting me I’m likely to crush you with extreme prejudice, whether you are a wasp defending itself, or a mosquito collecting blood so it can reproduce.
I’d like to think I have great respect for life, but I am a Monster, I have limits and I have blind spots. I am an imperfect creature…
