Friday, May 8, 2009

Eat Your Dinner: Don't You Know There are Starving Children In (next door, Africa and Pretty Much Everywhere)

A few days ago, the Matron gleefully purchased one of her favorite food-like substances:  Dairy Queen No Fat Fudge Bars.    In fact, the Matron likes these 50 calorie wonders so much, that she bought the Econo-pack of 12 to have some in the freezer.  They're a favorite with Scarlett and Merrick, too.

Not so much Stryker. 

Skip to just two short hours ago.  The Matron finally got around to the first section of last Sunday's New York Times and read this heart-breaking piece on people--children--who live in garbage heaps.   You know how children might fall into middle-class swimming pools and accidentally drown?  Elsewhere in the world, children take a wrong step and drown in the liquid waste of garbage.

Just as the Matron was folding the paper, Stryker came skulking into the kitchen, in search of something 'cool and refreshing.'

Stryker (with genuine shock and a hint of outrage):  "Fudge bars!  Fudge bars!  I can't believe there's no ice cream in this house!  Why can't we have ICE CREAM LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE!"

And it was all she could do to stop herself from snatching that fudge bar out of his hands and shaking him silly!!   Thank God-Oprah-Buddha-Allah-Universe (in that order) that you are standing in the granite-counter high-end kitchen holding a fudge bar.   Really.  She wanted to scream.

Instead, she calmly asked him to put away the fudge bar and handed him the article.

Boy, transformed.   There's the power of the Word (and photo).  

7 comments:

Suburban Correspondent said...

Oh, but your son cracks me up: "...like normal people!" - that is just great.

Anonymous said...

So that is why my Older Son (he would save the world) keeps talking about Senegal.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Has he seen Slumdog Millionare yet? I know it's Hollywood, but it does bring the point home.

Michele R said...

I agree with Jenn above. When I saw Slumdog with my husband I told him we would show it to the boys when it came out on dvd, for that very purpose. I am working on a post about that. My oldest son turns 13 in 3 weeks and makes those kinds of comments too.

TexasDeb said...

Nicely played, MM.

Anything we/you say has Permanent Mom Taint all over it. "That's just Mom talking". Annnk! Auto-ignore.

Anything coming from a verifiably in their own sticky hands independent source is God-Oprah-Buddha-Allah-Universes' gospel truth and becomes their own, thusly to be heeded.

Go get yourself another Fudge Bar. You deserve it.

Stephanie said...

Hi there. New here but had to comment. I too have had moment like that with my kiddos. Glad to see I'm not the only one. Also, 50 calorie No Fat Fudge Bars from Dairy Queen! Please please let me be able to find some of those babies in Canada!

Ree said...

I'm finding that article and printing it to have handy.

;-)

But really...couldn't you have laid in some popsicles, too?