You know the story of Chicken Little, and how, when an acorn hits him on the head, he decides the sky is falling and gets everyone all freaked out? Chickens really are like that. If one of my ladies decides that something is bothering her, she clucks and postures until the whole flock is freaking out, even if nothing is really happening. It's pretty funny to watch. Aren't you glad you're not a chicken?
 
Then again, it seems that the sky is always falling for someone, somewhere. There is always an issue that someone wants to sensationalize. There are always things going on that people decide to take offense with, lose friends over, leave a group over, hate a neighbor because of.
The last few weeks the "sky is falling" issues I've been surrounded by are the changing of the name of Dixie College and women wearing pants to church. 
 
Now if you're not involved in these issues you would read this and say to yourself, "What? Is she kidding me? People are really upset about this?" If you're from England you'll say to yourself, "Ummm, shouldn't you want to wear underwear to church?" (In England they say trousers, because pants means underwear). But if you're from Southern Utah, apparently it's the end of the world. Well played, Mayans. Well played.
 
There have been some amusing, insightful, infuriating blog posts and comment threads about each of these issues. Most of them are well written and thought out by people who blog for a living and write new stories and stuff, and I really don't have too much to add to the discussion. But I did want to say this. Hey, the sky isn't falling. 
 
If these issues are important to you, then great. But try not to alienate half the people you know who may not feel the same as you by forgetting that there are always other sides to the story, that everyone is entitled to their opinion but not entitled to demean others because of theirs. And most importantly, lets remember to have a sense of humor about things. Because, come on, humor can be found in even the most horrible of situations and pants and confederate statues are NOT the most horrible of situations.
 
 I was too nervous to paint something about Dixie College. I'm afraid someone might throw a rock through my window. Things are getting a little crazy about the whole Dixie thing and I live here so I chose the pants issue.


The hens have all been sqwaking something horrible about what to wear. I can't understand it because they all have such beautiful feathers and are all so different and lovely in their own ways, but they are so worried about the pecking order. Little Piggy enjoys the freedom that wearing pants gives her. After all, she does spend most of her day watching little ones, sitting on the floor, cleaning up poop and stuff like that. Beyonce' likes to look feminine. She even paints her toes. Little Piggy judges Beyonce' because her breasts are too big. She must have had implants. Beyonce' thinks Little Piggy wants to be a rooster and wishes she would just move out of the hen house. Beyonce' sometimes thinks all she's good for is laying eggs and it gets her down.It never ends! They squabble all the time. Why can't they all just get along? After all, being a hen is hard enough as it is.

  Aren't you glad we're not chickens? Aren't you glad we have the brain power and compassion it takes to get along with people who are different then us and find worth in ourselves as children of God, regardless of our circumstances? Aren't you glad we know how to listen and learn from others around us with out being offended? Right, me too.