Polish Hunger Strike

As a child I often pulled stunts to show my parents how angry I was. My Dad would always refer to them as Polish Hunger Strikes.

It wasn't until I was 11 years old at scout camp that I fully understood the meaning. One of the boys became upset at something the leaders had required of him. So he decided to sit in his tent all day and not eat.

My Father, one of the leaders, just laughed and couldn't stop laughing. He stated: "Now who exactly is he hurting?"

Unfortunately for my Father I thought long and hard about his question. From that time on he didn't chuckle as much when I pulled stunts.

Oh the cycle of life.

Now I have a little guy pulling stunts on me, Garrett (5).

The other day we gently removed Garrett to our guest bathroom where we hoped he would quietly ponder his poor behavior and then happily rejoin the family. But Garrett felt an extreme injustice had befallen him and upon entering the bathroom he began a long and detailed diatribe of all the woes that had been heaped on him by his terrible parents. We were a little surprised at how articulate he was while screaming bloody murder for 20 minutes.

Then there was silence and we thought a lesson had been learned and it was time for Garrett re-enter mainstream society.

But upon opening the door to the bathroom we discovered that Garrett's silence was not humble recognition of his evil ways. He was only silent because he had been engaged in his own private Polish Hunger Strike.

He had discovered a razor in the cupboard and confident that we were going to forever be sorry for tormenting him in the bathroom, he shaved off his eyebrows.

His dark, thick eyebrows.

He looked hilarious. Mindy couldn't stop laughing. She quickly took a picture with her iPhone and starting sending it to all her friends.

By the time Garrett went to school in the morning he had realized his stunt wasn't turning out like he had thought, everyone was just laughing at him. So when his teacher asked him what had happened he looked her in the eye and said "My Mom cut my eyebrows". He was convincing enough that there was a brief discussion about Child Protective Services.

Wow. He's learning fast.

Mom, Dad - Help!!