I AM THE RELUCTANT ROOSTER
(COUSIN OF THE LITTLE RED HEN)

Yes you DO know The Little Red Hen! Remember?

In last Thursday's episode, The Little Red Hen was scratching in The Barnyard when she found a grain of wheat. "Who will help me plant this grain of wheat?", she clucked. "Not I!", oinked The Pig. "Not I!" mooed The Cow. "Not I!" neighed The Horse. "Not I!" bleated The Goat. "Not I!" said each of the other Animals of The Barnyard. So The Little Red Hen, alone, scratch-planted the grain of wheat.

Later The Little Red Hen clucked, "Who will help me hoe the ground around the place where I planted the grain of wheat?" "No I!" said each of the other Animals of The Barnyard. So The Little Red Hen, alone, scratch-hoed the ground.

Still later, The Little Red Hen clucked, "Who will help me water this planting?" "Not I!" said each of the other Animals of The Barnyard. So The Little Red Hen, alone, watered the planting.

When yellow stalks of wheat appeared, The Little Red Hen clucked, "Who will help me cut down this wheat?" "Not I!" said each of the other Animals of The Barnyard. So The Little Red Hen, alone, pecked down the stalks of wheat.

Then The Little Red Hen clucked, "Who will help me take these stalks of wheat to The Mill to be ground into flour?" "No I!" said each of the other Animals of The Barnyard. So The Little Red Hen, alone, bill-carried the stalks of wheat to The Mill to be ground into flour.

When the flour was ground, The Little Red Hen clucked, "Who will help me carry this flour home from The Mill?" "Not I!" said each of the other Animals of The Barnyard. So The Little Red Hen, alone, bill-carried the flour home from The Mill.

Now The Little Red Hen clucked, "Who will help me prepare and bake this flour into bread?" "Not I!" said each of the other Animals of The Barnyard. So The Little Red Hen, alone, prepared and baked the flour into bread.

Finally, The Little Red Hen clucked, "Who will help me eat this bread?" "I will! I will! I WILL!" cried out each of the other Animals of The Barnyard.

You see, dear Hamlet and Ophelia, America is The Barnyard of The Little Red Hen. If you can manage to "pull yourself up by your bootstraps", better jump back. For you'll be trampled by Agents, eager to promote what you've developed!

And I am The Reluctant Rooster, the cousin of The Little Red Hen. In Barnyard America, I, alone, found another grain of wheat and cultivated it into MATHTIVITES & SCITIVITIES FOR TOTS &: TEENS. But my purpose differs from that of my cousin, The Little Red Hen. I reluctantly work at this ONLY BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE WILL. But I'm HOPING SOME OF YOU WILL TAKE IT OVER AND GO ON FROM HERE. Dig?

Truly, if people will take over what I'm doing in all my WEB projects, in all my mathematical research, THEN I CAN TURN TO WHAT I WANTED TO TAKE UP 66 YEARS AGO, WHEN I WAS 14 AND FIRST READ WILL DURANT'S BOOK: THE EXPLORATION OF THE QUERY, "WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?".