Happy Mothers Day from Vox Verax

Morels

In this time of political confrontation, I can think of no better way to achieve commonsense solutions than to remember our mothers.

When we were young our mothers were full of wisdom … and still are today. They said things like: "Eat your Wheaties" and "It's better to be teased than ignored" and "If you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all."

I especially like the last one, I guess mainly because Wheaties is no longer the only "breakfast of champions" and, for a budding teenager, it wasn't better to be teased than ignored.

Here at Vox Verax we have a couple of loyal commenters who routinely take exception to many of our posts. Anything by Paul Krugman inevitably triggers their ire, though for us Krugman makes an awful lot of sense. Yet despite the often diametrically opposite political points of view between our commenters and us, those commenters are friends. One we don't see very often because he lives an hour and a half away, while the other one, who lives closer, delivers morels to my door every spring.

Morels in Minnesota are like gold. They are so valuable that if a morel lover asks a morel hunter where his favorite spots are the routine answer is: "I'd tell ya but I'd hafta kill ya."

This is the Minnesota way — at least the old way. Folks could have political differences but ultimately they'd find a way to get along, like enjoying sharing the exquisite subtleties of a ground fungus.

And this is what we can learn from moms. If you did something mean to another kid, even if you didn't intend to, you go and apologize. If someone calls you a bad name, you still invite them to your birthday party. And if you can't say anything nice about them, don't say anything at all.

So here's to moms on Mothers Day. Their wisdom guided us as kids. Perhaps in return the greatest thing we can do for them is to let it guide us as political adults as well. — LP