We are all vessels.
Each and every one of us.
Some of us for good vibes and compassion.
Others for anger and hatred.
Most of us for some combination of both.
Some are vessels for viruses on a voyage to find new vessels.
All of us are vessels for a tangled mess of pulsating meat and juices.
These cornish hens were once also vessels for pulsating meat and juices.
But now they are not.
Now they are empty vessels, meat pockets.
Meat pockets to be filled with seasoning and smoke, to be burned and charred, and then to be devoured.
We will gnaw them with the jagged bones of our mouth, turning them into a pasty mush to be incorporated into our own pulsating juices.
We will become vessels for the things which were formerly vessels themselves.
We are all monstrous, whether we want to be or not. There’s no other way to survive but to destroy and consume life.
…
America’s colonizers came here willingly on vessels that crossed the ocean.
The slaves they captured or bought came here unwillingly on the same and similar vessels.
Their bodies were vessels stolen for the profit of others. Vessels to build a nation and an economy of which they would have no part.
The first American President’s vacant maw became a vessel filled with the stolen bones of slaves and various animals.
He used those bones that were not his own to consume other vessels and make them part of his own.
America used vessels that were not its own to consume and take things that were not its own.
During this consumption, the vessels who previously called this land their home were themselves consumed.
We are all monstrous, whether we want to be or not. We are unknowingly turned into monsters by a culture that evolved to consume and to keep the consumers gorged.
But we vessels do have a choice.
We can choose to stay the course and continue to consume without heed. Or we can choose to learn to become less monstrous, to consider the needs of others, and to consume only what is necessary to keep ourselves functioning and healthy.
We can choose to enjoy and celebrate our strange, monstrous existence in a way that minimizes suffering.
Happy Thanksgiving.
