Pearls of Wisdom

In the Summer 1986, I realized that "just ain’t right in the head" extended to other people who were not described to me as "Hon, he’s your 3rd cousin whose not right in the head. Pay no mind and go give him some shu-gah". I can’t recall the specific events of that day but most likely it was one of the many weeks we spent with my grandparents with no particular agenda. There were always blueberry Pop-tarts with small dollup butter gleaming on one side for breakfast, outdoor chores in the morning, inside chores when it got too hot, then after about 3pm we got to rest until super. Our resting period coincided with General Hospital which my mother forbade us to watch, but my grandmother, Pearl, never minded my mother’s instructions in that regard. She had raised six happy and healthy kids and had done well thus all parenting directives were ignored.
I’m sure it was after supper while watching that handsome Peter Jennings, when I asked her, "Who is Kadafi and why does he hate America?" (Until just recently I didn’t realize there were so many spellings to his name, al-Gaddafi, Gadhafi, Khadafy to name a few). I don’t recall Pearl being one who followed politics on the world stage. Yet, she did the best she could to explain her answer in a way my 10 year old mind could understand it. Looking back, she probably was the best one to answer the question. She said sometimes leaders get upset and they start shooting rockets at one another and "Kadafi" was "just not right in the head" and he was in power. She went on to say that when crazy people are in position of power they try and show off with their weapons and such. She explained that his army had attacked an American ship in the spring and there were people in Libya that were suspected of doing bombing all over the world.

I had understood what nuclear warheads were, Reagan was president during my formative years and Oak Ridge was practically in my back yard—if you used Sarah Palin’s geography—and Pearl’s explanation of "bombings all over the world" sent chills to my very core. My world was Sulphur Springs Elementary School and I had a vision of the "Kadafi’s" army bombing my little community. We got bomb threats all the time so why could they not be "Kadafi" instead of what they were—a high school kid playing a prank. Pearl assured me the whole mess was all "just talk" and told me to go get another Little Debbie raisin cream pie if I wanted.

The conversation with Pearl and that feeling of being vulnerable to whims of faraway people who were "just not right in the head" has always stuck with me. There were very few "why" questions I’d ask her for which she would give me an answer. So as I count my blessings that "Kadafi" is not my 3rd cousin, I am reminded once again Pearl was right. In the last 25 years, Libya has made the American news as about as often as someone reports on killer bees. Both are dangerous but only one is "just ain’t right in the head". Libya’s recent resurgence into our news is uplifting if you see it as people standing up for change and overlook all those that are dying during protests. But when "Kadafi" starts into his crazy rhetoric I am reminded of my conversation with Pearl so I’ll just have go get another Little Debbie raisin cream pie and wait for the next report on killer bees.