We need escapes or diversions to take our mind off the troubles of the world. During the depression, movies and comics were very popular because they took our mind off poverty, unemployment and the many other horrible problems of the time. Fiction was popular and new genres like science fiction and fantasy were born. The comics were also a rage as well as new expressions of music such as the big bands.

We are all mourning the death of Michael Jackson, King of Pop. He deserves to be praised even though he apparently had a dark side with drugs. He is much like Elvis, Princess Diana and others we have mourned. Part of our exuberant overflowing of grief and emotion over his death is a diversion from our troubled times. Even though sad, it’s a brief respite from Iran, North Korea, the economy and all the other bad news in the world.

There was once a cartoon character called a Kigmie. These were little creatures who loved to be kicked by humans. After being kicked they would come back for more because they loved to be kicked around and humans loved to do the kicking. The Kigmie was a salvation for the human race. They were a minority who loves to be kicked around. They were actually part football, part balloon and part homing-pigeon. They were an ugly little creature and it was fun for the humans to take out their frustrations on these little live creatures who loved to be abused and did not retaliate. They were the solution to racism and wars. The humans didn’t need each other to kick around anymore when they had the Kigmies. The trouble with the Kigmie is that they were only a cartoon character. We have pets that we can love but what we really need in real life is a Kigmie to kick around.

I think it would also be nice to have Diemes. These could be live lovable little creatures with fatal diseases that could die for us when times got bad so we could have a diversion and be able to cry and grieve to get our minds off the troubles of the world. The creatures could even be made to have fatal accidents and other forms of violent death that humans love to see then grieve about. There of course would be no repercussions from their deaths like lawsuits and such. They would exist only to die and give humans the needed emotional relief of grieving.

As I sit on my porch and observe the deer eating my plants I’m trying to think of a role they might play in helping vent some of our emotions. Frequently, we feel so much anger about all the things happening around us like driving, shopping, calling a business on the phone, working, etc., we need something to kill. The deer would be perfect for this. Deer could simply be renamed killmes.