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A Question for the Sheep
Dec. 29th, 2012 11:03 amIn the aftermath of this Christmas holiday season, I have a question that I've actually pondered, without resolution, for some years. Why, in the poem "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," is there "none for the little boy who cries in the lane?"
And why have those of us, who have heard this rhyme recited ad nauseam over the years, never questioned the unfairness of its basic proposition?
Doesn't it seem like, of those mentioned as potential recipients, "the little boy who cries in the lane" might be the one most needful of this apparently gratis wool?
I mean, if there are, in fact, "three bags full" and one is "for my master and one for my dame," wouldn't it seem like the natural thing to simply give the third bag to this unfortunate child?
And why has no one thought to question why the little boy has been banished to the lane to begin with?
And could it be that the Black Sheep is in fact protecting his own marginal status in the community by excluding the little banished one from sharing his largesse?
These are questions that need to be answered in this week between Christmas 2012 and the New Year, perhaps considered by Congress even as this nation continues to dangle over the fiscal abyss...
LPK
LiveJournal
12.29.2012
And why have those of us, who have heard this rhyme recited ad nauseam over the years, never questioned the unfairness of its basic proposition?
Doesn't it seem like, of those mentioned as potential recipients, "the little boy who cries in the lane" might be the one most needful of this apparently gratis wool?
I mean, if there are, in fact, "three bags full" and one is "for my master and one for my dame," wouldn't it seem like the natural thing to simply give the third bag to this unfortunate child?
And why has no one thought to question why the little boy has been banished to the lane to begin with?
And could it be that the Black Sheep is in fact protecting his own marginal status in the community by excluding the little banished one from sharing his largesse?
These are questions that need to be answered in this week between Christmas 2012 and the New Year, perhaps considered by Congress even as this nation continues to dangle over the fiscal abyss...
LPK
LiveJournal
12.29.2012
