I have

 just read where a school district in Washington has stopped serving pork products in their school lunch program because some Muslims have threatened to sue them if they don't.

Frankly the school district should have simply told them to sue them and explained that the countersuit for wasting their time would follow if they didn't win.

One of the things I fondly remember about the Army was the chow line and the attitude of the cooks. Of course, the cooks recieved a lot of complaints because it is the general nature of a GI to complain about everything.

Eat it, don't eat it, throw it away. I don't care, I did my job. The Army gave me the food and I cooked it. It's on you. That was the gist of the answer the cooks gave to the complainers.

I, of course, simply ate what was out in front of me but that is just my nature. One day one of the coooks asked me why I never complained about the food. I shrugged and told him I was on a see food diet. When I see food I eat it.

But that is just me.

One of the things that we all have a right to do is throw food away. If you don't like something, don't eat it.

Want something to complain about? I can do that.

How about if we hire a couple of big guys to grab the students that don't like pork? One holds their arms and the other holds their nose and when the student opens his mouth to breath he rams a bacon covered pork chop down his throat.

Of course, it the school were to do that I would likely be in the front lines of that battle. You don't take someone's legitimate choice away from them. People have the right to eat what they want.

I remember the time I had some pork chops I was getting ready to cook up one night and a Jewish compadre was visiting me when I was ready to cook them up.

"You're invited to dine with me tonight. I will serve you Jewish dilemmia," I said.

"What is Jewish dilemmia?" he asked.

"Free pork," I replied. "I'm having pork chops."

He laughed. "I'll pass," he replied. Then he grew somewhat serious. "I'm a Jew and can't accept. We don't eat pork. But thank you for offering to share a meal with me."

He knew my offer wasn't a slight. It was simply an offer to share a meal with a friend and he took it that way. The offer was given in friendship.

Still, the point is that the Muslim community has to realize that the rest of us are not going to change our dietary habits (or much of anything for that matter) to suit them. It's not fair to the rest of us and when you get down to it it really isn't fair to them, either.

For one thing it cheats them out of learning to deal with other people.

Let's go back to my Army days. 

Out in the field our fine dining often consisted of C-rations. Here's a sample of a typical conversation.

"Hey, Jimmy! What did you draw?"

"Turkey loaf."

"Trade ya for dicks and mothers. I'll throw in the Luckies."

"Cool!"

 A pair of cans and a 4-pack of smokes would fly across to each other and the trade was completed. Jimmy got dicks and mothers and four Luckies and Joe got turkey loaf. The final results were two happier campers.

One of the things the kids will be cheated out of this by this policy is learning flexibility. Back in the day we learned how to trade. One of the things I would do if I were a kid in this day and age is sit near a Jew or Muslim because I like meat of all sorts. I'd trade just about anything on the plate for a serving of meat. 

Come pork days I'd likely be swapping my whatever for whoever wanted to trade for another pork chop. However, that is just me.

Still the point is that Muslims and everybody else have to learn to live here and there is no real reason the rest of us have to change to suit them.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY