Mushrooms by Ricky

          Why are mushrooms and children so different yet still in the same Kingdom?  Why are children and mushrooms so alike but not in the same Phylum?  Does it really matter?  Yes, it does.

Similarity #1:  Mushrooms are Fungi which thrive in dark and damp places often sticking their heads up into the sunlight to examine the world above the soil and to scatter their spore.  Kids stay in the shadow of their parents, then ever so slowly peer or venture out into the world beyond their home seeking greater light and knowledge.  Adolescent male children prematurely scatter their “spore”.

          Similarity #2:  Mushrooms feed upon smelly decomposing organic compounds predominantly in the dark.  Children are kept “in the dark” about many things and accuse their parents of feeding them smelly decomposing organic compounds.  Yet some parents do “feed” their children’s minds a steady diet of “BS”, by continually espousing concepts of bigotry, hate, and homophobia.

Parents unwisely keep their children “in the dark” to protect them from information which theoretically might hurt or damage the child or which is too embarrassing for the parent to talk about.  Not talking about sexual matters early enough, but waiting until the child has already obtained a rudimentary knowledge which is often wrong and incomplete is not good for the child.  Thus, a child who feels “different” for some reason has no one with which to discuss their feelings, because the parent has closed or not opened the door to such information or discussion.  This has a disastrous impact on the child’s mental health, life, and is hazardous to their adult future.

Parents often struggle with and wonder why their children don’t remain active in the parent’s church in which the children have been raised since birth.  I suspect that years of lying and supporting the myths of Santa Claus and Elves, the egg-laying Easter Bunny, the Sand Man, Frosty the Snowman, and the Boogeyman finally carried over to the stories of Jesus.

Parents keep forgetting that children are NOT STUPID.  They are smart, cunning, and bear considerable watching.  Continually lying to them, even if it is a white lie like Santa Claus is not setting a good example.  There must be a discussion early on in a child’s life of the difference between a fictional Santa and a real Jesus – a wise parent will ponder and prepare for that discussion very carefully or be forced to admit that they don’t know if Jesus is or was real.

Difference #1:  Mushrooms are Fungi.  Children are not Fungi.

Difference #2:  People eat mushrooms for flavor or recreational purposes.  Mushrooms only eat people after the coffin is sealed, and often for the same reasons.

One day at our dinner table, we were eating spaghetti with the sauce provided by a jar of Prego.  This particular version of Prego contained small pieces of mushrooms.  Partway through the meal, my oldest daughter (7) proudly announced to everyone that in school she had learned that mushrooms are poisonous and she would not eat them anymore.  Instantly, her sister (5) and brother (3) stated that they would not eat them either.  No matter how their mother and I explained only some mushrooms were poisonous and they had been eating mushrooms in the spaghetti sauce their whole lives and not died; no argument or fact could or ever did change their minds or behavior.  Sometimes, children really can be less smart than a parent wants to believe.

What is the point?  The two questions that opened the mushroom memory story are totally irrelevant to my point except as a literary device to get you to read this post.  The question of “does it really matter” is important.  It matters because too many youths are still killing themselves over sexual orientation bullying and parental homophobia.  THIS MUST STOP!!!  Open and honest dialog between parent and child must begin before age 5 and continue throughout their lives.

So called Christian ministers who preach hatred and homophobic sermons ARE NOT CHRISTIANS and should be discharged and shunned until they repent and teach correct Christian doctrine.  In my opinion, these ministers could be prosecuted for some form of “breach of the peace” or “inciting violence”.  They definitely are causing discord and not preaching Jesus’ Gospel of love and harmony.

I am someone who believes that every life matters.  Every youth suicide represents a lost national treasure.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

– Poet John Donnes, 1624.

© 8 December 2013 

About the Author  

I was born in June of 1948 in Los Angeles, living first in Lawndale and then in Redondo Beach.  Just prior to turning 8 years old in 1956, I began living with my grandparents on their farm in Isanti County, Minnesota for two years during which time my parents divorced.

When united with my mother and stepfather two years later in 1958, I lived first at Emerald Bay and then at South Lake Tahoe, California, graduating from South Tahoe High School in 1966.  After three tours of duty with the Air Force, I moved to Denver, Colorado where I lived with my wife and four children until her passing away from complications of breast cancer four days after the 9-11 terrorist attack.

I came out as a gay man in the summer of 2010.   I find writing these memories to be therapeutic.

My story blog is, TheTahoeBoy.Blogspot.com.