Goldfish Logic

Over the weekend, Doug and I celebrated our 16th anniversary (in Stockbridge MA) and then surprised Grandma Stella to ring in her 96th birthday(Rochester NY) and logged at least 20 hours of driving time- almost 25% of the whole 96 hour sojourn. My brain is slightly addled, but maybe that’s why this next thought is so appealing…simple, profound and universal.

During the trip, Doug bought a bag of Goldfish for the the car…you know, the crackers moms buy kids to snack on because they’re cute, travel well and are not so bad for you. I’ve bought them in the past, but only to pep up the Chex Mix…

ANYWAY

Yes, I’d brought plenty of reading material, but after a while was looking for something…well, less challenging, so I read the Goldfish bag.

The back panel asked the question ‘What do you see?’ with a 3 panel cartoon featuring smiling, animated Goldfish crackers underneath it. The 1st panel showed 2 Goldfish  sunning themselves,poolside, and a third on a diving board, about to jump in the pool; in the 2nd panel she jumped in, spashing the other two in the process.

The third panel had one of the splashed-on Goldfish-still smiling-saying ‘Yeah! Let’s dive in!’;  but the other poolside Goldfish, no longer smiling, exclaimed to the diving Goldfish-‘No! You got me all wet!’.

The copy went on to say it’s not always easy to see the sunny side of things, and urged the reader to challenge themself to find something good in every situation.

WOW. In our hurry-up, bottom-line kind of world, I love that Pepperidge Farm is giving time, space, and energy to put this thought out there, and that kids (of all ages!!) will see it.

And yes, it came in handy when we were in slow traffic (the landscape was beautiful this time of year!) and  one museum-goer in front of me had many, many questions for the docent (good questions, I would not have thought to ask that) or the very busy server did not bring the customary bread to the table (a-ha, you know where I’m going with that one, right?)

May the Goldfish be with you!