It was once said by a man in Los Angeles, a man way smarter than me, one could learn everything about life from watching a Three Stooges episode..That’s right, just one episode..No complicated wordplay, just lots of various blows about the head and pokes to the eye region, and "nyuks.".What more could a man want?.We are all, all of us victims of soycumstance,” as Curly would say..I ventured to his grave in LA. I had to see it. It was a bucket list. Something I had to do..To me, the Stooges were part of me, a part of my youth. We watched them on TV every day. It was a staple in the Windsor-Detroit area for any kid..Curly was buried in a Jewish cemetery in a bad neighborhood..My brother Jim said we’d better go in the day, and be really careful. In and out..I saw the gang markings. For sure, it is now a tough neighbourhood. Gang territory. Crips vs. Bloods..And we had no business being there. But I had to see Curly’s grave..It was amongst many graves, but I knew it when I saw it. It had coins and stones all over it..Mementos people left behind in his memory..I touched his stone … the Valhalla of comedy. The greatest who ever lived. A moment I will never forget..Jerome Lester Horwitz, better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and actor..As a member of the comedy team the Three Stooges, it also featured his elder brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and actor Larry Fine..Born in the Bensonhurst section of the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Oct. 22, 1903, and of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, he was the youngest of the five sons of Jennie (Gorovitz) and Solomon Horwitz..It goes without saying Curly had the ability to make people laugh, that much is apparent..He also loved animals and adopted many dogs. A good man in all respects..And I loved him for his crazy film antics, which to this day are highly entertaining..I suppose in this insane world of ours where we try to rewrite history and deny our past, some of the Three Stooges episodes would be considered out of bounds..But any kid who sees those shorts now, knows it’s all in fun..Furthermore, the world could also learn a few lessons from The Three Stooges..Yes, we are all struggling, and it’s all going to hell. In Canada, West hates East. It’s a shambles..And we have no uniting force, none. In fact, we have a prime minister who intentionally incites more hatred than unity. The biggest moron who ever sat in the PMO..And if he wins the next election, things will even get worse..And then I heard today a school in northern Alberta wants to ban Mother’s Day and Father’s Day..Seriously, I’m not kidding. Because Mother’s Day is not inclusive enough and has to be altered..Check out this note from the school:.“Families come in all shapes, sizes and configurations. Some have a mom and a dad. Some have two moms. Some have two dads. Some families are blended with step-parents and step-siblings… Because of the wonderfully diverse ways our families show up, we have decided to celebrate these important people in wonderfully inclusive ways, rather with just Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.”.Instead, the class will do an art project to “celebrate our families.”.We have in our country an entire Pride month. A month..Yet, mothers cannot even get a day, not even a single day, because a small percentage of people are apparently not “wonderfully” represented? .I’m sorry, but this is an outrage. This is not the way to go in our province, or our country..The official Mother's Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. .Following her mother's 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother's Day as a way of honouring the sacrifices mothers made for their children..So, we're going to toss that all aside into the ditch because some pencil pusher in the school system thinks that’s not good enough. .Using the dreaded “inclusive” word. A word that bulldozes everyone and everything. A word that makes people lose their minds with righteousness..A century of tradition and societal recognition into the trash can, in other words..No Father’s Day, no Mother’s Day … but … drag queen story hours for children at local libraries, for crissakes. .Trannies twerking in front of young children. And this is progress? Have we all lost our minds?.Is this how we raise future leaders in our country?.Which brings me back to the sanity of The Three Stooges — thank God, for Moe, Larry and Curly..If you’re ever in LA in November, you might want to take in something called Stoogefest. It might even restore your faith in humanity..The Alex Film Society throws its annual Three Stooges festival on a weekend in November, and anyone is welcome to attend.. StoogefestStoogefest .Sometimes, they even have a celebrity guest speaker, such as Shemp’s daughter. It really is a cool event, and not many people know about it..Rampant silliness. Exactly what we all need in this terrible time of life when everything seems to be going off the rails..So if life is getting you down and you don’t know where to turn, stream a Stooges short for your kids. Maybe they might learn something. .Your beloved mother probably told you this: "Life isn’t fair, and it never will be." But at least, we can laugh about it.
