Grandma’s Cookies? Not in Our School!

Observations

First, it is not a surprise to readers of this web log that I enjoy poking fun at the political correctness that results in things like the elimination of the word Christmas. As I was attending our local back to school open house, I observed the sign-up sheets for parental help at the following holiday parties: Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Holiday.  It needs no comment.

There are four holiday parties.

There are four holiday parties.

Second, more than I enjoy poking fun at political correctness, I enjoy cookies, and there is a tradition that parents will bring cookies to the open house.  I noted this, and C reminded me that parents were asked to bring store packaged cookies only.  That is to say, leave Grandma’s cookies at home.   Today, I learned that the same rule applies to the several holiday parties; bring your store-bought treats, but leave your home-baked goods at home.  It seems someone is afraid that not everyone’s kitchen is as clean as his or the school’s or your local grocer’s.

But lo! A few parents brought homemade cookies anyway!  This got me to working on an idea.  Martin Luther King Jr., in Letter from Birmingham Jail, defends the Biblical idea that “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”  I would not elevate the fight for homemade cookies to the level of the fight for civil rights.  The fight for Christmas may someday approach it.  I am compelled, however, to note that the perpetual fight for liberty is at the core of all three, and that one cannot dismiss the cookie rules as the harmless regulation of a misguided do-gooder.  With apologies to Dr. King, a thoughtful man might conclude that “one has a moral responsibility to scoff at stupid rules and wantonly disobey asinine suggestions…with a smile.”

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