I have decided to rename the spider who lives on my back porch Vishnu. I think it is a better name for her than Rachael, which I got from the Holy Bible. After all, the spider does have eight arms. Of course, no one around here, in the buckle of the Bible Belt, took offense at the name Rachael, though it is from the Christian holy book. I wonder if I should be worried that someone will want to kill me because I have named my beloved spider Vishnu. Nah, of course not. Hindus are reasonable people, who have more to do than finding insult and injury where none is intended.
Two nights ago, I prepared lime and spice roasted chicken, Aloo Mattar (curry with peas and potatoes), and green asparagus. I was reminded of the time in Brno when we were all missing food from home. There are two McDonald's restaurants and a KFC on Massarykova, but we don't really consider that "food from home." Our sudden desire for our native cuisine occurred at about the same time that someone in Prague asked me, " just what is American food ?" So for a week I cooked only American food. We had lasagna, enchiladas, Mozambique curry, Aloo Gobi, dressing and turkey, meatloaf, moussaka, quiche, chili, and vegetable gumbo. Are you surprised? There are foods which everyone thinks of as real American cuisine: hotdogs, hamburgers, pizza, barbecue, steak, fried chicken, and good old apple pie. But even those things aren't really from here. American cuisine is rather like American English: what we meet up with, we take in and call it ours. Words we have a use for we add to English. Robot, lens, taco, futon, lasagna, bureau, vodka are all English words now. It is all as American as apple pie. You know apple pie, right? It's like apfel strudel in a pan. But just because we take these things in doesn't mean that we have stolen them from anyone or believe them the sole property of those of our nation or of our faith, things about which no one may think and speak freely. It is the Czech appreciation for this freedom that is one of the things about your character and culture that I am so fond of. Really, more so than most, Czechs and others who suffered under Communism can see the stupidity in demanding the death of someone who names a bear after a prophet. They can appreciate the freedom in both naming your animal whatever the hell you want and being free to criticise someone else for choosing a stupid name. So, I will tell you this: we've been thinking lately about getting a pet. Getting a pet means also giving it a name. I am considering a dog Mohammed, or a chicken Confucius, or a cat Jesus, or a bird Buddha. My bird Buddha. That has nice alliteration. But maybe it would be better to call the bird Jesus, what with the Holy Spirit and all. So call me insensitive or a bigot or insulting, whatever you want. I don't care. I am an American and I will defend to the death your right to free speech. My belief is in a god who understands what is in a person's heart and my faith in a religion which values forgiveness as a sign of tolerance and love. Challenge me on this and maybe I will issue a fatwa against you for not sharing my beliefs. Or maybe I will just forgive you. It is the reasonable, civilised thing to do.
