When did grass stop being greener...

than cement?

Imagine a little group of about 14 pre-schoolers, just your typical pint-size people. It's a sunny spring day in Washington, even a bit warm, so the class heads outside for story time on the lawn. Only, these little people live in a town that doesn't have a single park. Most of them live in apartment buildings where anything containing chlorophyll is strictly decorative (read: not for children). And, oh, by the way, they might never have been outside city limits.

So, this little group troops outside. The teacher, para, and this random other lady all plunk down on the ground. The kids keep standing there. They are invited to sit. They keep standing there. This green stuff, this strange, soft-prickly stuff is all over the place. I mean, it's completely out of control! Where are the coagulated rocks? The cement? Shoot, they'd have settled for gravel. But this green stuff? It might be wet! It might tickle. It might, well, who knows what it might do? They keep standing there.

Finally, the teacher yields. She decides to stop this meaningless torture, to not force this unnatural anguish. A compromise is reached. One by one, the students spread their jackets on the grass and, barrier safely in place, timidly sit down.

I'm glad I work in Parkland. Irony's my favorite kind of humor. Yep.