at least we ain't got locusts

There's an old cop show called Barney Miller. Not at all like today's cop shows. I don't think the location ever shifted from this one room, a run-down precinct somewhere. These guys sat in this room and talked. Not a lot of action, but plenty funny. Anyway, there was this detective, an Asian-American. He had this sort of Oriental shtick going. You know, fortune cookie wisdom, with a spin. So one time he said this thing I've always remembered, I don't know why, I guess it just really tickled me. What he said (as well as I can remember) was:

"Many things look bleak at the moment of occurrence, but at least we ain't got locusts."

I was thinking of that the other day, when I was reading in the paper about one of those huge locust plagues in Africa. I mean, the thing about locusts is the whole consume everything in their path thing. So, bad for crops. Which means famine. And they were reporting about how much bags of locusts were going for! That's not a bounty; that's because people were eating them. And before you feel too sorry for them, forced to such grossness, reflect on this: some woman was reported as saying how much her husband enjoyed snacking on crispy fried locusts as he watched TV.

I'm sorry, that just seems .... One of those cultural shock things, I guess. I mean on the one hand you've got eating locusts (you're thinking, primitive people, probably don't wear much clothes, sit on the dirt, right?), and on the other, you've got couch potato sitting in front of the box, beer in one hand ... locusts? in the other.

Okay, I'm weirded out.

Anyway, if you look at that in connection with the earlier quote about at least we ain't got locusts, then ... well, it says something good about the human spirit, don't you think? I sort of collect things like that. Under orders from Mike to feel better about the human race.