With Flashlight in Hand

Stoic in the road I pause,
The air is crisp and clear.

Leaves stampeding past me here,
Skittering away in twilight.

This is the eve of ghouls and fright,
And beggars with their bags.

Ghosts and pirates, heroes and hags,
In floppy garbs of glitter.

I hear the leave a-skitter,
The cold is coming soon.

A cloudless night, an ominous moon,
Tonight the spooks will roam.

Then rush away and head back home,
Their treasure to unpack.

Nocturnal pabulum – just a snack,
And then they’re off to sleep.

And so another jubilation keep,
Until old Santa Claus.

The Trouble with Teenagers

Did you ever try to punish a teenager? Who got the worse end of the deal? You get to listen to the teenager whine and complain and do the “Nobody ever makes any of my friends do that!” You also get the “and who are you punishing, me or you?” That one was my son’s favorite. Because ever time I took away the car keys, I would up driving him to his work so he wouldn’t get fired. I went back to being a cab service.

The other things that happens is that there is absolutely no way to communicate to them that they only need to calm down and stop the offensive behavior and the rest of the family will be willing to accept them back with open arms. Instead, they will stomp their feet and throw a temper tantrum, use foul language and tell you how you can attempt certain anatomically impossible activities.

Now, I thought I was talking about people. Now I realize that I must be talking about countries. There’s North Korea and Iran dong the same thing. And Venezuela too! I find it absolutely amusing that Cuba seems to be like a 23 year old and no longer a teenager. Somehow they seem almost ready to join the adults in the world. Unfortunately North Korea grew up in a rough neighborhood and they play with dangerous toys. It’s not so easy to take away their car keys. It costs you; just like it will cost the rest of us to enforce this embargo.

So how do you deal with a teenager? Well most of us just wait until they grow up and hope that they don’t hurt either themselves or somebody else in the process. It’s too bad there isn’t some “hospital” that we could have them committed to for a period of time. Or maybe it would be good if there was some type of Ritalin for countries; something to open their eyes and just WAKE UP.

And, just like teenagers are too old to be spanked, so it is with these countries. A teenager is likely to pass your jaw with a swift left hook if you try. I’m afraid that these countries would try the same thing.

And now that I know exactly how close the parallel really is, I nominate Dr. Ruth for Secretary of state!