I love the philosophy of skunks. The skunks are what I admire a lot. In fact, I respect them so much that I used to have “skunk stripes” as my hairdo. Bleaching out to make the stripes against my natural dark hair, and it worked quite well. But bleaching are costly process, so I couldn’t keep up. It was quite funny, seeing people with shocked looks or some even gave me despising looks because my hairdo made me look like a punk. I admit that I used my hairstyle to select friends in a way. If they only looked outer shell of me and judged, I knew they wouldn’t be a good choice as friends. I wanted to befriend with people who wouldn’t judge by the cover of the books. In a way, it was essential, because it is not always safe being small, colored & a transgender in my area. In Japan, there are no wild skunks, so the only time you’d get to see them is at a very large zoo. At zoos, their smelly glands are surgically removed, so I have never smelt the skunks until I came to Michigan. The first time I smell the skunks, I thought of Tonkotsu Ramen Noodle, famous in southern Japan. Tonkotsu means the soup from pork bones, and it had distinct smell in cooking process. The skunks have similar smell except their smell are like a million times condensed version of Tonkotsu soup. So at the first encounter to the smell, I asked my American friends, “Are there any Ramen Noodle Restsurants around?” My poor friends were so confused, because each time I smell the skunks I would go, “There got to be Ramen Noodle delivery trucks or specialized restaurant around somewhere!” When I went back to Japan after high school years, each time I smelt “Tonkotsu Ramen Noodle” in near by Ramen Noodle restaurants, I used to stop at a block away from the restaurant, cautioning my Japanese friends “Move slow, there’s a skunk near by!!” ——————- Mama Skunk I have a lot to learn from you Your love for your baby so strong Very protective and yet not in a smothering way Will you be my mama? I wanted to say Remember the day we met One hot mid summer day Near by the bush in front of a church I saw your baby on his own But judging from his size I knew his mama was near by Watching his first “on his own” stroll With cautious eyes, sharper than of eagles Your mama was right there to embrace you In case of danger My Little Brother Skunk I looked at your pure white stripe Surrounded with the dark fur The design so sleak & yet so profound Expressing your existence to the whole wide world That you are a skunk Tho you were too young to spray Your existence is to be a skunk Warning coloration, many will say To me, your V shaped stripe stands for Victory The V shape stripe running from your back to your forehead Makes a full circle with the stripe of your tail Victory in circular relationship Equal relationship among all members That is the Victoious way to be The design of your natural garment shouting out loud Victory for equality that are yet to grow Victory of compassionate heart still far to reach My mind wondered in full of thoughts You looked up at me Twitched your nose To tell me, “dude you think too much!” I bent down near by the bush Extended my arm and fingers Just like the painting in some church Where Adam extending his finger to meet that of God’s I sensed your mama’s eyes sharpening even more Yet, she waited She had let you make decision on me She had let you venture out to me So you trotted toward me Smelled my finger to greet me with peace You acknowledged me My very existence I was so lifted to be greeted by you I was elated by the trust your mama gave me All other noises were gone from my ears The people gesturing me to move away Behind the sealed shut door of one small church Some even hid their eyes with their fingers That they were so sure, that I’d be sprayed Birds and bugs chirping no more Through your action, I was visited from the Creator of all Assuring me, that my existence isn’t disordered as some say My existence wouldn’t influence negatively to others I’m not sure if you knew then But we Homo sapiens are quite weird animals Tho I was born to this human body Some humans hate me for who I am Even bishops, called to teach compassionate love Say that I was not to be welcomed At the table that was supposed to be for “all” I wasn’t to be counted as one of the “all” in their eyes Some worry that I can spread A symptom called gender dysphoria “Stay away, cuz he’s weird” people whispered loud enough to hear And that was even before I replicated your warning coloration with my hair! It was only a minute or so But prior to the farewell on our brief meeting You gave my finger a gentle kiss Your mama had my life on her tail Had she sprayed, I would have died Unlike others, I have weak lungs Your defensive weapon is strong enough for a hospital visit Yet she judged, no need to spray Teaching me, that I’m okay I am not weirdo like some say I’m not harmful like the Church blamed Your mama gave me love of trust Mama Skunk will you be my mom? —————- The mother skunks are one of the most protective mother of all, spraying at the slightest sign of danger to her young. The baby skunks are ready to go on his own after a few months, but they tend to stay with their moms until they are ready to date their mate. I like the teachings that are embedded in body of skunk. You see, I see nature as my spiritual brothers and sisters, since we all came from the same Creator. But most of the time, I see nature as teachers. The skunks do not spray unless they are threaten of their lives. And even then, they will perform “warning act”, prior to the spraying. Only when their warning actions were ignored, would they spray aiming for the face of the opponents. The skunks are what I would call “defense oriented animal”. Despite their stinging spray, they are not the attackers. They are not out looking for fights, and even when threatened, they are always calm enough to take warning actions. I am somewhat of a hot headed, short tempered, quite feisty person. Perhaps, it might be due to being short. Many short folks I know tend to have feistiness in their personality to some degree. Perhaps it is because we face lots of bullying and disrespect because of our physical size. In fact, in Japanese language there’s old saying about short folks that says “no matter how small Japanese pricklyash seeds may be, it still add zings to your dish!” But whatever reasons may be, many shorties are quite “able” persons and they will let you know their existence, if others take them too lightly. Anyways, being short or not, and may be it’s just me, I know my shortcomings of being emotionally driven guy with quite high reaction speed. Unlike the skunks, I tend to react when being poked, without warning signal. I tend to work on a law of simple physics, Newton’s famous third law, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” When I’m pushed, I push back at pretty much exact moment of the impact. But skunks don’t work like that. There’s a moment of impact and they could reacted with spray in instant like a automatic reflection, but they don’t. They absorb the impact and first they give reaction of fair love, the warning gesture, before giving back the reaction in full boost as a form of spray, which at times could be very harmful. How brilliant is that? How wonderful it would be, if we all take a moment to absorb the impact, give out the love first prior to reacting to the action accordingly? The one thing about Newton’s law, that I tend to forget is the reaction is always the “opposite” to the action given. Given hate, I was to return love and not anger, given deceit, I was to embrace with trust, indeed Franciscan prayer of peace works, because it gives back the opposite of despair, the love. Female side of DNA contributor to my genetic make up (biological mother) taught me one thing with her word, when she wasn’t abusive. “It’s always better to be the one to be cheated, than be the one to cheat others of anything, never be the one to spread the hate.” Her words of wisdom wasn’t quite followed by her actions, but this word I will hold on, while I devalue many of her actions.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 17:10:44 +0000
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