No, Henny Penny, the sky is not falling.
I had long forgotten about Henny Penny until this morning when I turned on the TV. After listening for a few minutes and becoming increasingly uneasy, I retreated to the NYT and DRUDGE Report on my IPad.
As I sipped my coffee and reflected on the news reports, I recalled that even as a child, I disliked Henny Penny. She, of course, is one of the famed characters in folklore that originally appeared in 1823
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Henny Penny is the character who kept forecasting gloom and doom. Even as a small child, I always preferred the romance of golden haired princesses and good fairies.
Now once again, her warning seems to have emerged and infiltrated everything I read or listen to concerning our world.
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However, when I look out my window, I behold a miracle of beauty. I view an amazing park, with tall elegant stately trees. I see a bench with an elderly couple holding hands and soaking in the beauty of the day.
Suddenly, a young woman comes into sight pushing a carriage and holding a dog on a leash.
I wonder if I should call out with a warning:
“Be careful. Henny Penny says the sky is falling.”
But I don’t do that.
I don’t do it, because it isn’t true despite what I read, hear and am being lectured about.
Yes, we are in lockdown for another three weeks in the residence I share with 129 others.
Yes, there are demonstrations erupting with violence and
Yes, there are unjust killings, but
No, the sky is not falling even if we are constantly being encouraged to believe it is so.
There have been wars in history and humanity survived.
There was a Holocaust when men, women and yes, children were annihilated.
There was the blight of Aids which wiped out countless young men and extinquished their talent.
Before that, if you choose to remember, there was something called ebola, and polio and TB which resulted in countless deaths.
So, I truly wish Henny Penny would retreat into the limbo of yesterday when her character
states:
“My goodness! it must be dawn. Time for me to lay my egg."
Possibly like she, then the world will realize the sky hasn’t fallen despite all the dire warnings.
The proverbial acorn may have landed on our heads unexpectedly in 2020. However, we must also remember that it is not embedded and will eventually roll away.
Like Henny Penny, let’s admit the sky is not falling down.
