Help the Mascots

There will be a number of blogs about -- well -- I have MID, or Mascot Identification Disorder. Thanks to my husband Matt for helping me come up with a name for this problem. MID is a disorder that is activated when the MID victim sees a mascot in person, on the television, on the internet, in a magazine. It's not a problem when the victim sees a person dancing and holding a COME IN AND TRY OUR NEW SPICY TACO FAJITA sign outside a Taco Bell. It's activated when a Taco is waving his arms willy nilly outside the Taco Bell next to the dancing-sign-holding person. Look at the mascot in the photo above. He's trying so hard to give someone a treat and the person just won't take it. The mascot looks forlorn and I'm left speechless and horribly sad. Another part of this condition is thinking that all mascots are male unless dressed like Hello Kitty or a lamp wearing lipstick.

I don't know how long I've had this problem but here's what happens. I view the mascot and my brain doesn't see a person in a cat suit. My brain sees a cat that has been trying to live normally in this world but has been prostituted by humans as a mascotwhore. This sounds bizarre but I'm truly serious. I get all woogy when I see these mascots. I will admit to occasionally laughing at their expense. I recently watched a You Tube video where a dinosaur became a prehistoric torpedo down a flight of stairs at a basketball game. Hopefully, nobody was hurt. But I did laugh pretty hard. On a day when the dinosaur is coordinated I just might want to weep. Today I saw a pancake waving to people near our local IHOP. I did see human arms sticking out of the costume and that made me feel better, but I couldn't help thinking poor pancake . . . do you have any other life . . . does anyone really love you? It made me sad.

The picture above was taken when Matt and I travelled to Japan. I guess the mascot was a tiger and he was trying hard to give away squid treats as an advertisement. Very few people paid attention to him. Whether you're a tiger, a moose, a cup of coffee, or a pancake, I feel for you and I send you my love. I don't know where MID comes from. I've tried looking on the web to see if other people have this condition. Alas, I have found nothing. Whatever you do, don't trip the mascot because he may be working for food. Don't laugh at the mascot because he may be doing his best. Give the mascot your attention and your help. Who knows, you may have to become a mascot one day.