Howdy Doody the Nebraska bull is the wacky spirit animal we need in these divisive times.
A sedan with half the roof and windshield sliced away to make space for a large animal stall, containing a monstrous beast with a cheerful disposition, is exactly the sort of parade feature that keeps America daffy and great. Let other nations goose-step. We’ll take the shiny fire engine with little kids tossing candy from it, and the girls in braces twirling batons, and the grown men driving figure eights in tiny cars, and the eccentric neighbor who enjoys taking his pet bull for a ride.
by Munro Leaf. A mass of fearsome potential, Ferdinand seemed destined for combat in the bull ring. But much like Howdy Doody, his nature was gentle and placid. He preferred to sit peacefully and smell the flowers.Published amid the brutal Spanish Civil War, Leaf’s parable of the bull who would not fight stirred controversy. It was thought to be subversive to create a pacifist hero for children as the world spun disastrously toward the Second World War.
We finish the book not knowing whether Ferdinand would fight, and fight well, for a cause worthy of his effort. We just know that he wouldn’t fight for pleasure, or to entertain others. He wondered how much joy there could be in needless conflict. In this way, Ferdinand is very much a bull for our times, when merchants of division have turned the nation against itself and made the gloriously diverse and even eccentric life of democracy into a blood sport.
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