The Donkey, The Bull, and The Magpie

Yesterday morning…

…musing on, writinging about donkeys

…talking to Helen about a wedding she’d attended last week – with therapy donkeys present. Everybody had wedding photographs taken with the donkeys.

…discovering the ‘paradox of Buridan’s donkey’, a philosophical illustration that started with the Greeks. It’s named after the fourteenth-century French philosopher Jean Buridan, but has taken many forms over the centuries… Buridan’s hungry and thirsty donkey is equidistant from hay and straw. Wanting both, it can’t decide which to choose – and so dies.

Yesterday afternoon…

…talking to Ivan about decision making, using the expression ‘on the horns of a dilemma’. Apparently, the Greeks started this too. The word ‘dilemma’ comes from two Greek words – di (two) lemma (propositions). Both bring an undesirable outcome; you have to choose one.

The bull is charging at you, head down. He’ll get you. It’s inevitable. You must choose which horn will gore you! You have to make a tough choice with inevitable personal damage and pain.

Yesterday evening…

…talking to Patrick about ‘saluting the magpie’. We talked about traditions and folklore linked to magpies and Patrick’s Irish relations that salute magpies.

Such superstitions go back centuries. When Mum saw a magpie, she’d recite the rhyme: ‘One for sorrow, two for joy…’ People today seeing a magpie might say ‘Good morning, Mr. Magpie’ or give the bird a salute. For some it’s to avoid bad luck; for others it’s a cultural tradition, a habit, a bit of fun.

This morning…

Musing on choices…

…that I face: When, like Buridan’s donkey, I suffer through procrastination and indecision… when I have to choose between potentially painful ‘bull’s-horns’ options… when I can choose to salute or greet my religious or superstitious magpies…

…that Jesus presented: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, show hospitality to strangers, give clothes to the needy, care for the sick, visit the prisoner… and Jesus’ conclusion: ‘When you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’