Another View: Back Scratcher

Opinion

Discussion

August 9, 2012

Another View: Back Scratcher

Charlotte Shivvers Journal-Express The Zope Gazette Thu Aug 09, 2012, 09:16 AM CDT

Knoxville —

Sometimes these days are almost too discouraging to write about. What was it? Seven people of the Sikh faith murdered in their temple on Sunday? And how many killed or injured while out for the latest Batman movie? There have been over 100 school shootings since Columbine.

What kind of creatures are we, this intent on killing, and not even able to choose leaders and laws that might protect us from each other and the weapons we’ve created?

We are strange, we humans, so much talent, gifts, and possibility – yet we not only kill each other at great speed but allow other millions to die from lack of food or clean water. We are so gifted that we have found healing responses to vast varieties of human disease and injury; meanwhile we systematically invent and build intricate new machines to kill even more of us. Are we basically insane? Was there ever a basic human instinct for good? An awareness that we are connected?

Sometimes it’s wise to lean back and take in another theory as to why we are the way we are. Here is one of my favorites. It’s by the Reverend David Bumbaugh.

“The fall from grace, the great disruption of primordial order, the original sin, had nothing to do with eating apples or talking to snakes. The instrument of our fall was a wooden back-scratcher, that piece of wood, bent at the end so one can reach the unreachable spot – there, there, between the shoulder blades, down a little bit lower, now up a little bit, there where the most persistent itch always takes up residence.

“Before the back-scratcher, before that simple, infernal device, we, like all our primate kin, depended on others to do for us what we could not do for ourselves: ‘You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.’

“Before the back-scratcher, before that simple, infernal tool, we needed each other to scratch the unreachable itch. The wooden back-scratcher dissolved the bonds of reciprocity, unloosed the ties of community, and tempted us to believe in our own godlike self-sufficiency.

“And God walked in the cool of the garden, and saw a primate standing alone. ‘What have you done,’ God asked, ‘that you stand alone?’

“‘I have found a back-scratcher,’ said the beast, ‘and now I need no one.’

“‘Poor beast,’ said God, ‘now you must leave this garden; in Eden, no one stands alone; each depends on the others.’

“And thus began our wandering, our pacing up and down the earth, scratching our own itches, pretending self-sufficiency, trying to ignore the persistent sense of loss, the vague yearning for a primordial order, a world where you scratched my back and I scratched yours. A wooden back-scratcher is poor compensation for the gentle touch of a living hand.”

That’s “another view” to inspire us all. Thank you, David Bumbaugh.

Text Only

Opinion

Slices of Life: I'll do it later "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today." Thomas Jefferson Yeah right. I've been meaning to write a column about procrastination - I just never got around to it. Besides, I'm not sure even Thomas Jefferson could abide by his own words 100
May 17, 2013
Some of the lessons of motherhood I've been on the job for more than 21 years, without a day off for longevity, illness, endurance or good behavior. I'm not complaining. I wouldn't want a day off. Not a whole day, anyway. Although I do appreciate 10 minutes under a hot shower within
May 10, 2013
A thought for you How often do you stop and think How much you owe your mother And if she goes away for good You never have another How often do you realize Just how much she's worth The trouble she had raising you That started in at birth And as a child, the care you
May 10, 2013
No Headline Provided To the Editor: In your recent article, "Controversy at Board of Health Meeting", the board had a problem at a meeting and blamed their argument on Robert's Rules of Order. They now plan to discuss whether to use Robert's Rules in the future. Your art
May 10, 2013
The bonds of preschool It was a party 14 years in the making. Attendees included nine moms who met when our kids were in preschool. Now, we came together to anticipate and celebrate those same preschoolers' high school graduations. We sat around a long table at a local res
May 3, 2013
The Sinclair Report
This year’s legislative session was scheduled to last 110 days. We reached that mark on Friday, May 3. Though we are in the final days of the first year of the 85^th General Assembly, our adjournment date remains uncertain.

May 2, 2013 1 Photo
Medicaid expansion will help property tax payers Opponents of Medicaid expansion have mischaracterized the effect its implementation would have on Iowa counties. In pointing out the fact that more Iowans with a need for mental health services would be covered and funded with federal dollars, it is
May 1, 2013
Letter to the Editor To the Editor: I appreciate your candor in explaining your use of quotation marks around the word "affordable" in news stories regarding the Affordable Care Act. The issue here is not affordability but credibility. News is to be presented objectively
May 1, 2013
Iowa's child care, early education providers call for worthy wages For over 20 years, at the beginning of each May, child care providers and other early childhood professionals nationwide recognize Worthy Wage Day (May 1), raising public awareness to highlight the importance of child care provider compensation as pa
May 1, 2013
'Taking time off?!' Some of us like to think that when employees get time off, it is deserved, that their work justifies their vacation time. Not so, unfortunately, with a major group of employees we share. A recent email from our Representative in Washington, DC, Dave
May 1, 2013 1 Photo
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

Another View: Back Scratcher

Do you intend to volunteer for RAGBRAI®'s stop in Knoxville?

Site Map

Contact Us