Aww.
But don’t bugger one. Because the hedgehog can never be buggered at all. (Warning, NSFW lyrics)
She has her boy. And straight away, there he is, a little ball as ugly as sin with a pointed nose and sprouting hair everywhere. But this hedgehog baby had quills as soft as feathers. And his mother wrapped him in a bundle and snoodled him and hugged him to bits. And she gave him the name Hans. ‘Hans my Hedgehog’ she called him. Oh, yes. The mother loved her baby, all right. but not everybody did.
<snip>
And the farmer felt ashamed. And he brought home a saddle for the rooster and he herded up the animals his son had asked for and he told his wife to pack a pack-lunch, and all the while the Grovelhog sat on the stoop and waited. And when all was done he went to his mother and she kissed him. And then to his dad and hugged him. And the farmer knew for the first time how soft he was. They watched him until he was a faint smudge in the distance. And his mother felt a crack in her heart like a tiny pencil line. And each day after, the pencil line got thicker until one day, not long after, her heart split in half and she died.
– From Hans, My Hedgehog
So adorable!
What I like about the photo is that it works on two levels. Obviously there’s the cute-and-funny factor. (The funny ‘angry face’ and the cute snuggle.) But it’s also a bit of wisdom. Someone posted a thread a while back about a cranky neighbour who called the cops on people who were breaking no laws, yelled at people for, I don’t know… breathing too loudly, that sort of thing. Another poster suggested being as nice to the Old Crab as the Old Crab was being mean. IIRC, it worked. The Old Crab mellowed a bit, and even gave the poster a Christmas card.
I saw a Christmas card back in the '80s or '90s. It featured cartoons with a little story. ‘During e holidays, some people are lonely and sad…’ ‘Some people even hate the holidays…’ etc. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but ISTR something near the end where it said that some people don’t have anyone who cares, and this makes them bitter. So just let people know you care, even if it’s hard to get through to them. Now, I admit that I have little time for other people’s negativity. But I still remember that card, and the plethora of movies in which a gruff, nasty old fart only needs a bit of compassion to turn around.
The hedgehog pics remind me that sometimes it’s worth being nice to a prickly person.
And they’re cute.
Aw, I knew someone would beat me too it.
Shinji, have I ever told you about the hedgehog’s dilemma?