Making Dilemmonade out of a Dilemma (Pt.1 of 7)

Deep in the forest it was a cold autumn day with the sun peeking through ice-crystal clouds, as What and When were serving pasties in their Forest Café The two groundhogs served up lots of tender loving care, and the pasties were a fall favorite of most forest animals. It certainly looked like most of the neighborhood residents were taking advantage of the warmth and camaraderie of the little café that afternoon.

Just as Beave let go with a loud Chinese cheer in his napkin and Homer the Lovarabbit reached for a third pastie, Howey the horned owl burst in the front door with a gust of wind and a flurry of golden leaves. Breathless, he said to the whole café, as heads began to come up from their eating bowls, “Hey, guys, guess what?! Number eight just hatched! And guess who the new co-executive directors are. That’s right, you guessed it: Atlas and Arilla Gorilla have just initiated the A2 Animal Relief and Rescue Team, and that makes the eighth nonprofit to be started here in the forest this year.! When is it going to end?!”

“Simmer down, old boy,” said When, as he put a steaming cup of birch tea in front of the wild-looking owl. ”Where’d you hear that news? And anyway, it’s been five years not one year.”

“Well, what I heard was that Governor What has called an animal council in the Hollow for tomorrow at daybreak to discuss the whole situation. And when I asked what the situation was, What’s secretary, Easter, told me that Arilla and Atlas had just received their certification from the Forest Administration to set up another charity. Isn’t that wild? Two gorillas, now, on top of everything else we’ve got going, trying to set up another animal charity. It’s too much!” And he huffed and chuffed into his tea mug shaking his head so that the loose feathers flew in all directions and his eyebrows swayed back and forth in the breeze he created.

As When joined Where at Howie’s table, she said, “Well, we all benefit from these charities. I know I have and, Howie, I believe you have received quite a bit of assistance now and again from one or another of our little nonprofits. What’s the beef here? Too many? I mean, can there really be too many groups who help others? Isn’t that what animal life is all about – helping others?”

Over in the corner, Dr. Greyson Bear, sitting with his son and newly minted forest Doctor Greyson Bear, Jr., shrugged in disapproval. “Just what we need around here, another animal charity. Who do they think they’re going to take care of? Where do they think they’re going to get enough funding to keep them going? It just doesn’t make sense.”

What the aging physician and long-time resident of the forest was referring to was the seeming glut of nonprofits that had been initiated in the past several years. It had all started with what the good doctor still thought was an absolutely brilliant idea: that the forest animals all get together to start an animal helping nonprofit that would give aid and support to any forest animal who needed it. That had been Governor What’s idea about five years before, and it had been very successful. But it had started a trend.