On Sunny Lane: Don't Rain on the Parade

When Sweetheart andWhen I was in fifth grade, our class used to get “My Weekly Reader” every Friday.

“My Weekly Reader” was a small newspaper-type periodical that contained headline news of the day—from politics to feature stories, all geared to fifth-grade readers. Reading and learning from it was the Friday lesson.

The teacher strove to make it interesting and enjoyable by turning each issue into a newscast. He assigned each story to a different student, and they sat on a panel to deliver the news. He even assigned a person to come up with a commercial to deliver between news stories.

I was already a fledgling writer and full of creativity. I thought I should always be the person to devise and deliver the commercial. One Friday, even though I held up my hand enthusiastically, the teacher chose Ed M., who sat on the other side of the classroom from me, to do that task. I was very upset! 

I was so upset, in fact, that, during recess, when I thought nobody was looking, I went over to Ed M.’s desk, found the paper he had written his commercial on, tore it up and threw it into the wastebasket.

I know what you’re thinking. What a horrible thing to do! At the time, I felt I was justified in doing what I did. I was sure that my commercial was the best. My idea for a product was Glippo Paste, and I was going to use it in a cake recipe.

Well, before recess was over, the teacher came to me and asked if I had torn up Ed M.’s commercial copy. I confessed that I had. I don’t remember if the teacher punished me, but he certainly admonished me. I was surprised that, when commercial time came, Ed M. delivered his idea as though nothing had happened. It was a good one, too. It was a parody on Ivory Soap, which, at that time, was advertised as being 99 44/100% pure—it floats. Ed’s soap was made of little white lies—it sinks. I thought it was darn creative—better than my Glippo Paste idea.

Why did I want to “rain on Ed’s parade?” Was it jealousy? An air of superiority? A feeling that I was right and he was wrong? The fact is Ed M., had the right to express his creativity in the job he was given, the same as I did.

It seems to me that there are a lot of parades that are being rained on today. And lots of it is in the federal government and the administration.

It seems that, no matter what our President wants to do, there is opposition—by everyday citizens and even by people in Congress. It matters not that the majority of voters elected him to do certain things. The goal of these people is to thwart him at every turn. It reminds me of some of the lyrics of a song from the 50s — ”Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

Maybe these protesters and those who oppose and thwart the President and his administration might agree with some of the ideas, but just oppose him because they hate him. Whatever happened to that slogan I see on signs outside people’s houses— ”Hate Has No Home Here?” Or, does it only apply to some people? Or, are some people excluded?

Since Ed M. sat across the room from me, I didn’t know him well enough to hate him. I just thought he was wrong. Turns out I was wrong for not wanting him to do his job. Turns out he did a better job than I would have.

I see a lot protests and opposition going on in news reports, while the silent majority sits back and rolls their eyes. Sometimes, I wonder if they even know what they are protesting, because I don’t see them coming up with a better idea.

After all, who wouldn’t want to see waste, fraud, and abuse investigated and stopped? Who would oppose ensuring the money goes to the people who need it? Why wouldn’t we want to see murderers, rapists, and violent criminals deported? Who would oppose bringing to justice violent gang members who traffic drugs that kill our citizens, or who traffic men, women, and children to satisfy other people’s base desires? Don’t you think it’s a good idea to halt the efforts of a nation whose main goal for the last 47 years has been to develop a weapon that would annihilate our nation?

Perhaps, these are the people that we should oppose, rather than the people who want to bring them to justice. And, maybe, we should join the parade, rather than rain on it.

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Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com