"Sacrificial Feast of the Ox"

Today is one of those days in which my mind isn’t feeling very thoughtful. I just finished reading what I had to for English and find myself staring at the screen like a moron. This is a first. I usually have so much to say, but then again this is a different type of text. Poetry is a little hard to grasp on the first read. If something truly got your attention you have to read it many times. In this reading there were quotes I could relate to things going on in my life right now and as usual felt calm and serene while reading.

You know how you feel that by sucking up to the teacher it will somehow improve your grades? Well the Tao is not on your side. Usually when one is sucking up to someone you brag and boast about your achievements. Well according to the Tao by boasting you will “achieve nothing”, and by bragging you will not “endure.” So why spend so much time trying to get into someone’s good side if it won’t prove fully great in the end. Don’t make a show either because all it means is that you are not “enlightened.” Just work hard and earn a person’s respect don’t just take the easy road. (24)

“Is there a difference between yes and no?
Is there a difference between good and evil?
Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!
Other people are content, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox.”
(20)

I had never really thought if yes and no are completely opposite, or that good and evil could be equal in some way. Sure there are those times when no means yes (mainly with women), but you really have to know how to interpret the “no” a person gives you. About good and evil, I believe that if there was no evil we wouldn’t know “good.” So is “evil” truly evil for making us cherish the good times? Good exists because there is evil.

I completely agree that you shouldn’t fear what others fear. If everyone had feared Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter 1 and thought he lived in your attic, there would have been a bunch of six year olds sleeping with their parents. Yes; I was afraid of Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, sew me. I’m not anymore, but the memory remains.

“The sacrificial feast of the ox” a holiday filled with killing and murder. Christmas is a cupcake compared to this mother of feasts. Families come together and join hands around an ox as a butcher steps into the circle and kills it. Yep, pure family fun! Ok I am kidding. What is this mysterious “sacrificial feast of the ox?” It probably does have something to do with what I wrote above.

I hope I am not left without an explanation for the “feast of the ox.” I hate feeling left out of the loop and this is just one of those questions that can’t just go unanswered. So seeing how it is recommended to “give up learning, and put an end to your troubles”(20), I will now follow the advice of the Tao and end my post here, and hope I am not the only one asking questions about mysterious feasts with animals.