Can you guess which one is really the "boy" scout?

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, one of the great Hassidic masters, tells the following story:

A high ranking minister rushes into the inner chamber of the king with terrible news. He informs the king that he has discovered that the entire year’s wheat crop is infected with a blight that will cause everyone who eats from it to go insane for one year. It is not possible to confiscate the wheat, for the population of the kingdom will starve to death. If they let the news out there will be an uncontrollable panic. The king and minister both conclude that they have no choice but to allow the natural course of events to proceed and the entire population will be insane for the year. The minister suggests that the two of them should procure untainted wheat so at least there will be two normal people left. The king considers the suggestion but rejects it. “We must not separate ourselves from our people; we too must eat from the wheat. However, we will both paint X’s on our foreheads as a sign, and when we look at each other, at least we will know that we are insane.

The Girl Scouts of Colorado recently announced that Bobby Montoya, age 7, has been accepted into the local Girl Scout troop. This would not be considered newsworthy except for the fact that Bobby Montoya happens to be a boy. Rachelle Trujillo, a Girl Scout of Colorado official, explained, “We do not require proof of gender when a family wants their daughter to be a member of Girl Scouts.”  As long as the child in question is “living life as a girl,” that makes them eligible for membership.

According to Bobby’s mother, he has believed he is a girl since he was two years old. “I believe [he] was born in the wrong body.” She was very upset that her son [?] was “humiliated” earlier this month when he was rejected by the local troop leader of Girl Scouts for…well, not being a girl. She has since been assured that the troop leader will be given “sensitivity classes.” According to his mother, he normally goes to school in male clothing to avoid teasing, but since the clash with the Girl Scouts he has started dressing in female clothing in public. In fact, Bobby Montoya appeared on a local news station for an interview dressed in girl’s clothing. “I like brats, Barbies, strawberry shortcake,” he told the reporter. “I like any girl stuff.”

I don’t know if there is any way we can escape the insanity that seems to float in our air and seeps in through the cracks of even our most efficient insulation and weather stripping. I do, however, have a suggestion for those of you who care…start painting x’s on your foreheads immediately, before it’s too late.

Rabbi Moshe Averick is an orthodox rabbi and author of Nonsense of a High Order: The Confused and Illusory World of the Atheist. It is available on Amazon.com and Kindle. Rabbi Averick can be reached via his website at http://rabbimaverick.com/