What's the frequency of the letter "e" in:
The manger scene of the Christmas nativity offers a beautiful and encompassing symbolism. The birth of Jesus Christ in a simple stall on a bed of straw is a statement both humbling and earthy.
The infant Jesus is surrounded by animals — cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, bunnies. The animals flock to the nativity in a sign of conciliation and unity. The first act of Jesus is to role model harmony with the animal world and, by inference, with nature.
This established what some consider a divine dictate to subordinate the whole of nature to man’s will. Others believe that dominion is more broadly and generously interpreted as stewardship through humane relations with the animal kingdom. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good,” concludes Genesis, after which God took a long rest from the exhausting process of creation.
It’s time for that long rest to end. As we witness the Sixth Great Extinction, divine guidance is necessary in man’s continuing relationship with animals and the biosphere we all share. If not, then human agency threatens to destroy what Genesis credits to God’s good works.
Technological modern man is quick to assert his superiority on the top rung of the hierarchy of life, but anyone who has a relationship with animals and nature understands a far more equitable relationship with beings and forces that can touch us for all our lives.
As I am writing this column in my home office up the Frying Pan, a bighorn ram struts majestically past my window. Powerfully built, its deep chest pushed forward, its horns crowning its jutting, massive head, this ram inspires a swell of appreciation for the creative forces that contrived this beautiful creature.
“Animals constituted the first circle of what surrounded man,” wrote Gilles Aillaud in an essay, “Why Look at Animals.” He confirms what many feel: that animals were originally at the center of man’s world.
Social media is mistakenly thought to be an antidote to our loneliness, but technology fosters only virtual relations that leave us empty. Prehistoric cave paintings of bison and horses also strove to bridge the spiritual gap between lonely man and the community of animals.
Our relationship with animals is complex and contradictory. They touch us with their beauty, grace, power and vulnerability. We regard them with awe for their independence, like my visiting ram, or assign them to pet roles that serve our need for companionship.
The Christian creation myth oversimplifies the division between man and animals. All are equally imbued by the miracle of life, by the same supreme hand.
We enjoy telling stories about our encounters with animals because they awaken in us a larger sense of community. How we are touched by animals is how we are touched by the Creation.
user
I found two hundred and thirty-nine "e"s in the provided passage.
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