Pastor Jim Jackson
Richmond Hill Presbyterian Church
Why blame the cows?
That’s my question? When we humans are hurting or puzzled we often turn to the self-defeating mechanism of finding fault. We mistakenly believe that escape can be found through projecting our troubles upon other people or even things.
These days you can see that phenomenon taking place everywhere, but I was somewhat startled to hear of a supposed scientific group picking on one of our favorite animals—the lowly cow. Yes, I heard it on my radio some time back. Hey, I’m serious!
It seems that these scientists have set themselves to the task of finding the cause of our ozone depletion. And would you believe they are pointing their scrawny little fingers at our beloved cows?
Pity Elsie and Elmer.
It seems that these scientists have discovered that cows eat a lot of grass. What a discovery! And they belch a lot. Must we tell everything?
Have our county dairymen been kept up at night by belching cows? I grew up around cows and I never heard one belch. Perhaps they had access to Tums?
These scientists say that when a cow belches it releases methane gas. And when all the cows from all over the earth belch, they are spoiling earth’s ozone. Surely they can’t do it in unison, given the fact they live in different time zones. So they say that collectively and day-by-day cows are ruining our ozone with their belched methane gas.
Now folk, if that stuff were true, the cow would not have had to jump over the moon. She could have just floated over it like a ballon.
Why pick on cows? What about sheep, goats, deer, and kangaroos? For goodness sake, what about scientists?
Why not blame those big trucks and super charged Mustangs, say nothing of retirees pulling those big campers up and down our highways? Please keep this to yourselves or the cost of milk will surely go up.
We need to be careful how we pick on cows, for the Psalmist spoke for God when he wrote: “every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” I say, watch out you scientists, for you are talking about God’s cows.