A Bugs Bunny episode from my childhood made enough of an impression on me to remember the line, “I will hug him and pet him and call him George.” I’ve said that line a lot. It especially bothers Billy when I’m hugging him and say it. He corrects me every time, “I’m NOT George!”
In high school, I learned the true origin of the line was from the novel “Of Mice and Men.” I read the book, I saw the old movie, and I felt sad that someone could be so unaware of the harm they were causing a small furry creature. I wasn’t mad at Lennie. I knew he was mentally challenged. But I was sad for him.
Yesterday, I finally understood the innocence in what Lennie did. I saw it in my own boys’ eyes.
The three older boys were playing in the backyard while Tommy and I did some housework. I decided to peek out the window to see what they were doing. Ricky was holding something in each hand and I asked what it was. He called up to me that they were playing with their birds.
So the story goes that Ricky and Billy found a nest in one of the low lying branches of a tree. They poked it down with a stick and found that it contained 3 baby birds. They gave the babies a bath because they were dirty from the fall. They held them to keep them warm. They looked around for worms to feed them.
When I got outside, the birds were all still alive, but they were very much babies. They may have only hatched a day or two ago. We put them back in their nest, put the nest back in the tree, and I had a long talk with Ricky and Billy about what they had done.
They meant no harm. I wasn’t mad at them. They just wanted to love them and pet them. If those baby birds live, we’ll have to call at least one of them George.