Learn From the Oafs

Answer: First of all, I'm hoping that my readers will enjoy the ride. The sugar in the medicine. The dancing and the clapping at the prayer meeting. In fact, I hope the message doesn't overwhelm. I want them to feel emotion as they're reading. A connection with the characters. I want them to read it the way children listen to a fairy tale. The awe, the magnificence, the magic--that's what I want them to be engaged by. Maybe they'll stop and think about what it means later on, but when they're reading I want them to be scared of the wolf, amused by the foolish decisions of the two little pigs who did not build their houses out of bricks, and nod their heads knowingly when the house of straw is blown away by a huff and a puff. We adults know what it means. Haste makes waste. Quick work is not the best work. Hard work pays off in the end. We've heard our parents tell us this before. Just not in a story. And a story, first and foremost, must be a story. So here we have a boy who wants a pet. When he gets the pet, he wants to show him off. When he shows him off, the real owner shows up and just like that, the pet is gone. Like those kids sitting on mats around their teacher, we nod our heads knowingly. That's what happens when you show off. Of course, this pet is a man . . . That must mean something. Hmmmmm. We are adults. We know what it means. Be kind to your planet, mans. Be kind to your animals, mans. Be kind to each other, mans. Learn from the oafs, mans, or you'll end up just as extinct as they are despite your sacred texts, ancient wisdom, good intentions, whatever. The earth is forgiving and resilient, but it can only take so much. We've been told this before. Just not in a story. Ah heck, we've been told this many, many times before in a story. It's my hope that this time we'll listen. Those Boston hippies back in the day made me quite the optimist.