Advice from Thumper's Mother

In my memory, Bambi was the first movie I ever saw. I might have been four or five years old—who knows? But I do remember being terrified of the forest fire and perhaps experienced my first taste of empathy feeling so sad that Bambi lost his mother to the evil hunter. 

 

I also remember a scene when Bambi is a newborn and the rabbit family with little Thumper comes to visit. Thumper makes some childlike honest comment about Bambi’s dubious appearance and his mother scolds him: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Good advice! If only the Orange Man had seen the movie and taken this advice to heart, we would have a silent President indeed. 

 

Why am I thinking of Bambi? Because as I start my Thursday, it occurs to me that nothing worthy of writing down has crossed my mind. So to paraphrase Thumper’s mother, I thought: “If you don’t have anything worthwhile to write, than don’t write anything at all.”

 

And then I wrote this post.