Two Too Sad News Stories

I was saddened on this Independence Day morning to see the newspaper story about a recent tragic accident on a dairy farm near Bridgewater, Virginia. A young farmer, his wife, two daughters, and a farm employee, died due to breathing methane gas in a manure pit. The farmer had climbed down into the pit because something was clogged, and had been instantly overcome by the gas. The employee, the wife, and the daughters went in one by one to try to assist, and were also immediately stricken. Oh, my. The couple also has two other little daughters. Send prayers for them.

We have a manure pump system in our dairy barn, which pumps the manure to an outdoor open pit. The description of the closed underground pit involved in the Virginia accident sounds much different than the set-up we have here on our farm. We don't have any sort of enclosed area where lethal gas could build up, and we pump the manure out every day. Still, one always has to be aware and careful.

Turning to a much different, but likewise, tragic subject, a few days ago there was an article in the newspaper about a young girl in Egypt who died as a result of an FGM procedure. If you don't know what an "FGM" is, as I didn't, then Google it and find out. Or Google her name, Badour Shaker. I was ignorant of the fact that such cruel atrocities are being perpetuated in this day and age. Its difficult to fathom the mindset of people who would deem it acceptable to do such things, whether it be for social, cultural, or religious reasons. There could never be a valid enough reason for doing such a horrid thing to a girl. Respecting the cultures and religions of others in the world is important, but if a culture or religion advocates FGM, then respect goes out the window, in my mind, anyway. Another incomprehensible thing is that most FGM procedures are done by older women......they must be able to do that because it was probably done to them when they were young. Can't something or someone bring the horrible cycle to a halt?

One writer on an FGM website pondered whether this mutilating corruption of women's bodies also has an affect on the men in those cultures and religions, helping to fill them with anger which they then unleash in acts of cruelty and terrorism. Obviously, its an atrocious cycle which needs to stop.

I sit here in my pleasant, sheltered life on an Iowa farm and wonder.......is there anything at all that I can do to help this situation?? Fervent prayer is possibly the only recourse.

Happy Independence Day.......just a normal day on the farm. Cows don't take time off from eating and producing milk, and the hay needs to be cut, so that is what Husband is doing. Fireworks were a big deal when the kids were little, but now, no one's too interested in going to see them anymore. By dark, I'm just ready to collapse into bed, anyway.