| Show Our own worst enemy is the thing in the pool take pool take takeoff off your blinders and look I G GLORIA Q QUICK lUO LOR U I C I K A Gloria Quick Columnist t JASMINE Stone Van Dressers Dresser's The Wonderful Hammer Ham Ham- JASMINE J mer hammered this mothers cant can't make children over in a day It takes time to make a boy become good Boys know what a magnetized hammer hammer hammer ham ham- mer is Girls with brothers to teach them might also know This is not a joke its it's a real book It was written written written writ writ- ten before the ERA passed Oh yeah that never did pass did it Well it was written after women were granted the right to vote The book belonged to my grandmother Lilian Moore gives a different message with Little Raccoon and the Thing in the Pool Little Raccoon went to the running pool all by himself for the very first time to catch crayfish for his mother and him him- self Quivering voices and frightened faces suggested suggested suggested sug sug- terror as Big Skunk Fat Rabbit and Old Porcupine Porcupine Porcupine Por Por- cupine asked Little Raccoon if he wasn't afraid of thing in the pool But Little Raccoon bravely pi plunged forward Little Raccoon shook a stick at the thing in the pool The thing in the pool shook one ofle back Little raccoon made a a mean face The thing in the pool made a meaner face Little Raccoon threw a rock The thing disappeared momentarily only to come comeback comeback comeback back with renewed horror horror horror-a a distorted weird face staring up at Little Raccoon When he went home to Mother she told Little Raccoon to go back to the pool and this time not notto notto notto to bring a stick or a rock or to make mean faces but rather to smile Little Raccoon couldn't believe it You mean all he needed to do was smile Yep just smile With trembling trembling trembling trem trem- bling feet Little Raccoon faced the foe The thing in inthe inthe inthe the pool smiled back Wow A huge giant smile Little Raccoon brought home the best crayfish that he and Mother Raccoon had ever eaten His mom said so Little Little Little Lit Lit- tle Raccoon finally asked his mother what the thing in the pool was She told him The raccoon was afraid of the image and likeness of himself When he acted ugly he looked ugly and fierce and mean and The raccoon book suggested that we are each the caliber of qualities that we express express express ex ex- press and sometimes that's scary But I always thought the moral of the story was be what you wish to see expressed Mother Raccoon expressed patient and gentle encouragement coupled with wise appreciation of another's efforts Little Raccoon expressed noble ambition courage and The raccoon book focused on progress through encouragement and enlightenment Orrin Hatch said the advent of Anita Judge Hill Thomas enlightened Washington men causing more consideration for a womans woman's standpoint than ever before But Thomas and his fellow male all-male but one Supreme Court Justices will decide for women what religious leaders of the world cannot agree upon when upon when a fertilized egg is a viable baby Richard Worthington didn't think that eight was enough A woman lies dead How many babies should a wife have before a husband gives permission permission permission sion for a tubal How many when bearing another child threatens her life How many years should an insurance company be al allowed allowed al- al lowed t to 0 d discriminate discriminate dis dis- i s- s criminate against worn women en before paying the consequences consequences consequences conse conse- Isolated instances Everyone doesn't retaliate like Worthington but The laws of our I G GLORIA LOR I A lUO Q QUICK U I C K l o i TI I Ii 1 I land change slowly and society always confers fewer rights for women than for men Why is this so hard for some people to see sec Some people really believe we now have equality of the sexes They really do No kidding The breakdown of the family is at least partially caused by neglected children Whose fault is that The Wonderful Hammer told us us-it us it takes time for mothers to make their boys become good Mothers dont don't have t time me Mothers often work outside the home just to make ends meet Some have careers to satisfy individual aspirations Others work afraid of the consequences of a failed marriage Patriarchs who fully financially support wives seldom give an equal voice and equal making decision authority to her One can offer water but one cannot make mules with blinders drink And its it's a lesson in futility to try to make Inake someone be what he We can each live be what we value Being what one values what one wishes to see expressed satisfies as nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing else can Perhaps our own worst enemy is only w tl tn the i 1 c. c thing P. P in In t the e F pool i ii 4 |
