Food for thought

by Tami Rudkin
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 8:40 PM MST

Would you eat brownies that had a little bit of dog poop mixed in the batter?

In my own words, let me tell you a story I once heard.

The family feud had been heated. The young teen argued that she must see that movie. All the kids were going, and it was only rated PG-13.

Someone who had seen it already reported that there was only a little swearing and inference of sexual misbehavior.

The parents also had heard the reports. Their daughter's account was probably accurate: it was just a little trashy, not too bad.

Still their answer was "no." The daughter was furious and eventually stormed to her room to nurse her indignation.

Although her parents were set fast in their decision, they did feel badly that she could not understand the reason for their choice.

Mom sat down at the kitchen table exhausted; she hated this kind of conflict. But dad, a man of action, began making brownies.

She glanced over at him and asked, "What are you doing? We are in the middle of a teenage crisis and you make brownies?" She sighed loudly for effect.

With eggs in hand, he replied, "I'll show you in a while what I am up to. I hope to make a point without further injuring our relationship with our wild-haired princess."

Forty-five minutes later, the father carefully cut up the brownies, placed them on a dinner plate and called for mom to follow him.

Balancing the delicious smelling brownies in one hand, he knocked gingerly on his daughter's door with the other. He turned slightly to smile at mom.

"Come in," the daughter murmured.

"I was just wondering," started the father, "if you would like to have some fresh-baked brownies."

The daughter rolled over and looked over at her parents standing in the doorway. "What are they up to?" she thought, but nodded yes to the offer.

After all, she loved brownies, and it was some consolation to her frustration.

"Well, good. I'll just leave them here on your desk," dad said as he headed for the door.

But then he hesitated and turned back toward his daughter. Both women were now held captive by the odd behavior of the man they loved.

"Honey, before you take your first bite of brownie, I need to tell you that I added a special ingredient to the brownies. I put just a little bit of dog poop in the batter.

"Oh, don't worry; it's just a little poop. Not very much at all. In fact, I hear all the kids are eating it this way."

The female duo's look of curiosity turned to unmasked disgust. "Sick!"

The father stood there, just for a moment, and then he came back in and sat on his daughter's bed.

"Let me explain. We had a fight earlier over a movie that has some, by your own admission, trashy and questionable scenes. You argued that 'It's not so bad; it's just a little bad.'

"Yet, when I offer you brownies with only a little dog poop in it, you are horrified. Obviously, you aren't willing to eat brownies with even a little poop in it. Are you willing to put into your head just a little trash?

"It's a good chance the brownies would make you sick, eventually. What your mother and I are worried about is what will happen to your mind and soul if we allow you to ingest trash, even in small bites."

With that, he nodded to his wife, and they slipped out of the bedroom.

It is certainly food for thought.

(Larry and Linda Kloster sponsor this column.)

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