A Mom On A Hot Day in Oklahoma

A Mom On A Hot Day
by Janelle Meraz Hooper

I feel like a mom on a hot day in Oklahoma. In my neighborhood, when it was hot and we kids starting fighting with each other, moms would snap, rush out into the backyard, and cut a switch from the willow tree. They would wave it high in every direction until the kids that were not of their loin were banished from whichever direction they had come. Left with only their own, they'd lower the height of their switch, and herd them into the house. The switch would run from side to side of their kids hind ends, playing on their little buttocks like a kid running a stick on a picket fence. Once inside, the kids were bathed, given a snack, and sent to separate corners.

What the Mideast needs is a hot mom with a switch, sending each country to their own corner. They cannot play together in peace. Israel has reacted outrageously and inappropriately. Iran and Syria are busily exporting hate across their borders. Even the Lebanese government waited ten (?) days before it asked the United Nations for help. The rest of the Mideast countries are playing deaf and dumb. What is this? A little summer diversion to replace summer camp? I, for one, am repulsed---and bored. I say, lock the fence, put the dogs in the garage (where it's cool) and let the little buggers go to it. The rest of us, let's go for ice cream!

Okaaay--maybe I'm a little cranky. Just tell me...do they have willow trees in the Mideast?