HoundBlog

I received an email last night authored by a veterinarian who recently attended a conference. One of the speakers was an authority on parasites (sorry — I don’t remember his name, but do still have the email, so if you need to know who, what and where, drop me a line and I’ll look it all up). His talk was on form of ascarid (round worm) who’s primary host is actually raccoons, but which can and will cross species to dogs and humans (but curiously, not cats).

This worm is particuarly dangerous to humans as one of it’s stages migrates to the brain and can cause blindness in children and other problems in adults. The upshot is, if you live in an area where raccoons are, watch out for their feces (they like to poop on roofs, at the base of trees and in mulch, straw or hay) and keep your pets and children away from it. If you suspect that your pet or child has been exposed, the pet needs to undergo a treatment of de-wormer such as Drontal or Pyrantel Pamoate and your child should see his/her physician for appropriate treatment.

I was (as always ) listening to NPR on the way in to work this morning. A couple of times a week, they read e-mails from listeners and this morning was one of those days. It seems their broadcast of interviews of Muslims on the anniversary of 9/11 was not received well by many. The interviews did not pertain to 9/11 specifically, but were more aimed at learning about the Muslim culture and way of life. They mostly centered around the head scarf worn by Muslim women when out in public. Many Americans and Europeans view the headscarf as a way for Muslim men to oppress their women and there are no doubt some men who employ it in that manner, but, according to the two young women interviewed, it’s a personal choice to wear it or not.

I had no problem with the interviews themselves or the date they occurred on — they were interesting enough although insubstantive in content. What they did do was to drive home once more to me how perceptions without information create misunderstanding, intolerance and strife.

Standing as I do, on the other side of the world (literally) from the Middle East, I can’t help but wonder ***IF*** the Palestinians, Jews, Arabs, Nepalese and Kurdistans could/would all learn each other’s history, a bit about thier culture and religions if they would not be more tolerant of each other and somehow learn to live in harmony with each other. They all have so much to offer this world that it seems a terrible waste of human lives, energy and materials to be used for war just because we don’t understand why they wear their turbans a certain way. I know in my heart that extremists will always focus on those differences and label them as evil and frighten or coerce others into believing the worst of their neighbors, but there HAS to be more people who are desiring the road of peace and who could, by their sheer numbers, prevail over these few. I also know that diplomatic solutions to such problems is harder to achieve and has less visible results than waging war on the “enemy” which is what makes war so attractive to many. It was the argument Mr. Bush used on Congress to talk them into waging war in Iran and is the argument he continues to use to keep us there. While I admire Mr. Bush for many of the things he has accomplished, this is one area that I have not and do not support.

Well, need to get to work.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Love to all,

Margaret