My final snowball

Driving to Jewel half an hour ago, I saw a couple of kids throwing snowballs at passing cars. One came my way but missed. For a fleeting moment, I wondered what the kids would do if I jumped out of my car and chased them. Better yet, what if I did a U-turn and came charging at them? The moment passed, and I went on my merry way.

Heading home a little later, at the intersection where I had seen the kids, I now saw a different scene: A man was holding a 13-year-old boy in a headlock. The man's wife was on a cell phone. Their mini van was pulled over next to them. I quickly did some math, put two and two together. The couple must have pulled over after getting hit by a snowball. They were now calling the cops. "Damn kids," I could imagine them saying. "We'll show these black boys not to throw things in our rapidly gentrifying neighborhood." (Oops, there I go again ...) I saw the kid pleading his case, but the man was having none of it.

I have to wonder what the cops will do about it. Are they going to charge the kid? With what? Mischief? Attempted damage to property? And I thought about all the times I threw snowballs (and other random things) at passing cars. And I decided that it's time to act my age: No more throwing snowballs.

When I think about it, though, I realize this blog is me throwing harmless little snowballs at politicians and other people appearing in the news. What if I connect and someone gets pissed off, grabs me, and calls the cops? Is it really worth it?

I was ready to sit down and write this as my farewell post. I'll continue Teacher Man, I was going to write. At least that one's about something I know about. If you read Daley Show, you can guess that I know very little (and care even less) about local politics. And to be honest, reading the paper every day just to find subjects to ridicule is tiring and somewhat depressing. The more I know the more powerless I feel. Anyway, this was going to be it. But then I saw that I actually had a few comments on my most recent post about the Friday downtown massacre. That's gratifying enough to keep this going ... for a while longer. So ... this is not my final snowball. But the next time I quit, that'll be it.

Have a stupid week. And I'll comment on it.