Monday, January 24, 2011

The Brick

There was the one remaining fly in the house.   Every house has a fly like that.  The one fly that hides out until December or January and looks like a bumble bee. 

I knew exactly what I had to do.  I went into the garage to get the big can of wasp spray and I grab the garage broom.  When I went back into the house, I also rolled up a big chunk of the Sunday paper.  I am standing there the the broom propped up against the counter, rolled up paper, and start shaking the wasp spray.

Your mom comes into the kitchen and asks me what I am doing.  It is cold here now and all the doors and windows are closed tight.  I tell her that I am going to kill the fly.  She shakes her head and walks over to the sliding glass door and opens it.  With a couple of waves of her hand the fly goes right through the open door.

I hate it when that happens.  

Killing a fly with a brick never really works out well.  You break a lot of things you never intended to break.   A lot of people like watching someone kill the fly with the brick.  But if you are the person throwing the brick, you end up being the entertainment in a way that is not good at all.  The brick thrower is the guy you want to watch but avoid. 

A measured response can be smart and elegant in a way that a brick just cannot.  So if you are faced with a shit eating, disease carrying pest, open the door. 

There are certainly times where the brick is needed...but they are few and far between.  More about that later.

Love Dad

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