Sensible Values

When I die, I'd like to donate my brain to science.  Unfortunately, I wouldn't benefit from the science of learning what makes my mind tick, the root causes of why it meanders and thinks about the random shit that it does, but I'm sure it'd be an interesting read, nonetheless...

The latest random thought to pop into my nugget and stay like an unwanted house guest, refers to the "Little Red Riding Hood" story.  I have a plethora of thoughts that root themselves in my head and, thankfully, I have this avenue (Jeff's Brain Matter) to discuss and investigate these thoughts, and I promise to eventually get to many of these thought-provoking-subjects, but today, let's stick to Red Riding Hood.

Everybody knows the children's story of "Little Red Riding Hood".  Grandma's sick, so Little Red ventures out through a scary forest in a bad neighbourhood, wrought with hungry carnivores, with a basket full of baked goods, bound for granny's house.  She interacts with a terrifying wolf, who instead of viciously attacking a helpless little girl, comes up with an elaborate ruse to disguise himself as her grandmother, in order to capture and consume the unsuspecting youth, but before his plan can come to fruition, a local woodsman breaks in and (SPOILER ALERT) slews the hungry wolf, thus saving the day.

I question the logistics of the story.  One, irresponsibly sending a small child through a dense forest to grandma's house, alone and unprotected.  The story was written in the 17th century, so it's not as if mom and dad could've tossed Red into the back of the Honda and driven to grandma's, but surely people possessed some kind of common sense in relation to child safety.  Two, the riding hood.

Think about this.  Her name literally contained the garment that she wore, which I surmise means she wore that f*cking cloak ALL THE TIME, and why wear a riding hood?  Probably because she rode a horse and rode it A LOT.  This being said, why didn't she ride the horse to her grandmother's house?  The same dangers would exist, but she'd have a little more security riding atop a spirited steed.  But she didn't.  I suspect because Red's parents placed more value on the horse than the life and safety of their beloved daughter.  That's pretty f*cked up!!

The whole story sounds iffy, at best.  Even for a fabled story, written centuries ago, there's no lesson to be learned, but I have learned a thing or two: (i) Wolves are stupid and over-think every situation. (ii) Breaking and entering was an allowable offense by an axe-wielding maniac, if there's a life to be saved; which I think my be acceptable today. (iii) Parents in the 17th century, lacked sensible values.

**If grandma is prone to sickness, why the hell is she living in the middle of nowhere?