Acting like children

Published 4:06 pm Tuesday, January 15, 2019

couldn’t have said it better. She said, “They’re acting like children.” She was talking about the adults who are running our country. Ouch!

The comment led me to think about how we used to discipline children. Maybe it’s time to treat those elected officials like the children they are. In the old days, we might take them to the woodshed. That’s a great idea, but we don’t have woodsheds anymore. Plus, they might call 911 and charge abuse.

Nowadays, putting them in time-out could be considered, but with the shutdown, they’ve called their own time-out!

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We could take away their toys. Mr. President, no more cell phone for you. No more twitter until this shutdown is over! How quickly it might be resolved if Mr. President couldn’t tweet.

For Madame Speaker Pelosi, we might say no to the planes to take her and her colleagues to Hawaii or Puerto Rico. Like the child who gets caught chewing gum in class. “I hope you brought enough for the whole class.” Unless we all get to go on those vacation junkets, no one gets to go.

The more I thought about just how I used to discipline my daughter as she was growing up, I thought of the serious talk I had a time or two. I would sit her down and very patiently and sternly tell her of my disappointment in her actions and they would not be tolerated.

Can you imagine Mr. President or Madame Speaker sitting for any length of time and listening to a attitude-adjusting talk? I can’t either so that’s out.

The more I thought about appropriate action, the further back I had to go. And then, boom! I had the most amazing way to stop all this mess that’s going on between the President and Pelosi.

I would get my Granny to come back, somehow, and move into Washington, sort of like when Granny of the Beverly Hillbillies moved into California. She’s been gone for over forty years, but she knew exactly how to discipline her children.

Her ways of disciplining included making the children cut their own “switches.” Those cherry trees in Washington look like good trees for switches, but corporal punishment is not enough for this mess. We need her best and it doesn’t include any physical action. Plus what I have in mind makes me giddy with excitement.

When my daddy and his sisters went overboard with their mischief and discipline was needed Granny had a never fail endeavor that could nip any quarrel in the bud.

Granny might let the sibling rivalries go on for a little bit, but at the point when she had “had enough,” she would call the two in and make them kiss and make up! She would make them hug and kiss each other and, boy, did that put a stop to their misbehavior.

Daddy didn’t mind it so much, but he had one sister that couldn’t stand to pucker up buttercup! He would get his smack over quickly and just stand there waiting for the stubborn one to satisfy Granny’s demand. Pretty funny.

But not as funny as the one in Washington that I can imagine. Just think of Granny getting Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump in the same room and saying to them. “I want you two to kiss and make up.”

I’ve seen Pelosi and that mouth of hers do all kinds of twisting. And what about the Donald? Just the sight of them having to hug each other and put a smacking on each set of lips…well that would just about make my day. Come on down, Granny.