Happy Birthday Tai Shan!
Friday - July 07, 2006
Moments before Tai
Shan
ate his first birthday candle.
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He's entertaining
and he's beginning to grow on me. This weekend our national
panda, Tai Shan, turns one. In addition to the grand party that
his parents and the other animals are likely to throw for him,
the zoo will be pulling out their checkbook and sending another
million dollars to China so that we can keep the fella around
another year. More and more, as I see news footage, newspaper
articles, and magazine photos of the little guy, I'm convinced
it's money well spent.
Given my previous rant about Tai Shan,
you may be wondering what's up with the about-face. Everything
changed one night when I was watching the local news this past
winter. Tai Shan was playing with his mother in the snow...
actually she was the one playing; he was a reluctant
participant. Mom would drag the poor kid up a hill, (bear) hug
him, and tumble down. This was repeated several
times.
A moment of cub abuse
captured on video changed my mind.
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At first I
thought, "Careful mom, he's expensive!"
Then I realized you can't be over
protective; kids are going to be kids. Then I realized, hey,
this is damn entertaining. And at that moment I had an epiphany
- the taxpayer dollars that pay this panda's green card
ultimately allow us to be entertained.
Let's just say for example that 50 cents
of my taxes every year goes toward keeping this little guy in
the country. It's worth it! On more than one occasion he's
elicited a belly laugh from me - and those don't come easily.
I've spent much more money on movies that were far less
entertaining. And when you think about it, a million dollars is
a steal given the network time and print space dedicated to Tai
Shan over the year.
So, happy birthday Tai Shan. Enjoy it.
But realize, the moment you stop being cute, we're going to
crate you up and ship you back to China. Maccaulay Culkin and
Gary Coleman will be there to greet you.
Posted at 11:49 PM < Just Another Brick in the Blog
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