If you’re a parent it’s highly likely that you’ve read “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”. If You Give a Mouse A Cookie is written by Laura Joffe Numeroff and is the charming tale of a young boy that gives a mouse a cookie. Once the mouse has the cookie he asks for a glass of milk. He then asks for a straw, next a napkin and before you know it the mouse has wrecked the house and asks for more milk, then a cookie.
It’s a cute book that’s illustrated very well and is easy for kids to follow. The book also has a couple parallels to ‘occupy Wall Street’ movements happening across the country.
The cookie is the park
In the book the boy gives the mouse a cookie.
In OWS, the protesters aren’t given the park; they’ve merely ‘occupied’ it. However, after they have the park they issue demands that make Dr. Evil look focused. Forgive all financial debt, 1-trillion dollars spending on infrastructure, outlaw all credit reporting agencies and open all the borders just to name a few.
The boy who gives the cookie is society
The boy spends the entire book getting supplies or cleaning up after the mouse.
If the city governments had stuck to the law and not allowed public camping, then OWS wouldn’t have cost various cities hundreds of thousands to millions in wasted dollars. Granted the OWS camps said that they were cleaning up after themselves, but pooping in a zip lock bag for hygiene falls short of modern standards.
The mouse drawing a picture is the drum circle
The talented mouse draws a picture and puts it on the refrigerator.
At all of the OWS protests that I saw there was a drum circle. Granted if you’re an urban outdoorsman there are very few outlets for your talents. A drum circle can be a fun place to dance around and beat away frustrations. Days upon days of drum circles would be maddening.
The OWS people certainly have a right to protest. However, when you choose to protest in a public space you’re held accountable to the same laws that adhere to everyone. The cities didn’t kick you out because they disagree with your message. On the contrary, your supporters are most likely government or union workers. They kicked you out of the parks because you were a health nuisance costing the cities & local businesses money and were camping out on public property.
The exception to this is if you’re in Norway or Sweden. You can camp in public places there with no legal action taken against you. When I was traveling over there I was tempted to be an urban outdoorsman, but the lack of toilets always dissuaded me. I should’ve taken some zip lock bags.
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Sorry, I think the book is a heckuva lot more cogent than the OWS crowd!
I would agree. In fairness to all political sides I tried to write it without focusing on the fringe elements of OWS. However, when you look at the list of their demands it’s kooky, far left and not based in reality.
The analogy fits a helluva lot better when the mouse is the 1%. Our house is a mess and drum circles didn’t get us here, greed did.
It would be nice if the drum circles actually offered practical solutions but they don’t.
To a point I’d agree with you. However, it’s the poor governance of both parties, not just the one in control of the White House. Fannie and Freddie should have been reformed in the early 00’s, that would have stopped a majority of the housing issues we’re in now.
No offense, but this post is a little pointless and reaching. Are you that desperate for hits?
No, not really, the book reminded us of some of the protesters, that’s all. Stop by anytime.