Run! Run!

I'm sure it was over a half century ago that I heard, and almost instantly learned the little rhyme, "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread man." It's a fun little story to read. The rhythm, rhyme, repetition, and the imaginary scene of a cookie that can run and talk--and even more who says what just about all little girls and boys want to say, "I can outrun you."--makes the story one that little folk like. The little ditty could be filed under the heading of fable. I won't spoil the ending for you, in case you haven't read it, or forgot, but, let me simply say there is evil in the world that none of us can outrun.
Speaking of not being able to outrun something:
And, I'm not making this up, as Dave Barry says. Though the Gingerbread Man out ran the old-lady, her husband-farmer, and a whole bunch of farm animals, he couldn't escape the PC police. Last year in Lancashire County, England, schools were orderd to call the cookies (or "pudding," as the English call them) "Gingerbread Persons" ( World Magazine 12/18/10, p. 19) After all we wouldn't want to imply that little girls can't run as fast as their male counterparts.
Apparently, though, some folk in "Jolly Old . . ." said something like "This nonsense makes no sense at all, and insisted that the pastry get his manhood back. You'll be glad to know that you can, once again, ask for a Gingerbread Man in Lancashire without being eaten by the PC police.
I remember the popularization of "Ms," as a designation for a lady when you don't know her marital status or want to keep from offending a woman who doesn't want to be titled based on her marital status. (I sometimes use the designation in correspondence. It saves embarrassment and grief.) Maybe it is just my feeble mind, but I don't remember "animal rights" being a part of our public vocabulary forty years ago. It used to be that "green" was a color, and "gay" involved no closets or not asking or telling. Now we live in a time in which it is considered inappropriate to call people who do acts of terror "terrorists," and people from other lands who are in our country illegally, "illegal aliens."
I would be the first to admit that language and titles have been used to cause needless pain. I'm glad, for example, that the "N word" has been removed from responsible discourse. But the renaming of a cookie is an example of the attempts to steer our culture by hijacking the language. We ought not be mean, but when it is appropriate, when we have a legitimate opportunity to do so, we should resist these efforts.
In the same sense as humans, animals don't have rights. People have a responsibility to treat animals responsibly. Anything that blurs the gulf between a human life and that of an animal ought to be resisted. A person's choices in regard to sexual expression are not without moral content. Some forms of sex are wrong, others are right. Language should not be stripped of those distinctions. A dedication to gender-neutrality that requires the renaming of a lunchtime sweet ought to be called what it is--foolishness.
My thoroughly masculine hat is off to the people of Lancashire. If I ever visit there I hope I can enjoy a Gingerbread Man along with a spot of Tea.


It's STTA.