I have never worked on a ranch, rounded up cattle, roped, or branded them. I have a couple of FB friends who have done all of these things.
As a young parent, I took my son to keyboard lessons with a young woman who had grown up in the rural area around Corpus Christi. Many years earlier, she had been a piano student of my sister-in-law, Dr. Imelda Delgado. During our visits to my son’s keyboard lessons, she related that she had grown up on a humble family farm. Her family had a pet cow, she explained. When she was young, her piano was located in a special part of the farm’s barn, and she said that when she was practicing her Bach pieces, the cow would come to her window and listen to her practice.
I concluded from her stories about her cow, who once actually did eat her homework, that cows are sensitive creatures. Cows, I reasoned, are herd animals with a strong sense of family, of belonging, of membership, and of being part of something greater than themselves. We could learn something from cows, I thought.
Since those days decades ago, I have just thought of cows in a meal related way – milk, cheese, burgers and sausages, steaks, and the like. I haven’t been able to tolerate milk in several decades, but I do still enjoy cheeses. Bovine flesh in various preparations is a treat, of course. When I am consuming the remains of these creatures, I do not typically wonder whether they had an appreciation for Bach’s fugues, the works of Telemann, or perhaps Vivaldi. I so love all three.
I have been thinking about cows this week because of the disgusting behaviors and utterances of Marjorie Taylor Greene who verbally assaulted a fellow house member with an ad hominem remark regarding fake eyelashes. Her colleague responded more politely than I could have in the heat of the moment. I might have responded, “Shut your hole, you stupid cow.” Sigh, I have never been a tactful sort, and in my advancing dotage, I am even less so.
Today, watching MTG’s questioning of Dr. Anthony Fauci, with her refusal to address him as Dr. Fauci because she believes that he should have his medical license revoked, I wish that I had been there to yell, “Shut your mouth, you stupid cow. You are not a representative; you are a dull beast!”
I must apologize to bovine species everywhere – cattle, bison, water buffalo, and all other bovines. I am a lowly, vindictive worm. Mea culpa, but like you, I do love baroque music.