Such was my gratitude yesterday when Lansing politicians dropped routine matters like school funding and budget balancing to react to Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s declaration that Saturday be “Michigan Meatout Day”: http://bit.ly/9zwk8L
State Senators went berserk and spent an hour debating the threat. Sen. Ron Jelinek said it was like telling Michiganders “not to buy Fords or Chevys.” Sen. Liz Brater stuck up for The Gov, and for “fruits, grains and vegetables” grown in Michigan.
The Michigan Farm Bureau was apoplectic. The Michigan United Conservation Clubs hastily created a “Meat Eaters Day” Facebook group that had almost 900 members before the end of the day: http://bit.ly/daGLp7 (“I’m a meatasaurus!” declared one Facebook friend)
The vegetarian group that created Meatout Day plaintively protested that “meat has no phytochemicals.”
Gubernatorial candidates gleefully piled on. The story went national. When CattleNetwork.com weighed in, people knew it was a big story.
My first reaction to Meatgate was indifference. As the furor grew I began to doubt. Perhaps I was just naïve? Blind to the threat of Meatout?
Then, the words of Col. Nathan Jessup in the movie “A Few Good Men” began echoing in my head: “You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use then as the backbone of a life trying to defend something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you," and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest that you pick up a weapon and stand a post.”
I stand humbled. All I can say is, Thank You Lansing.
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