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Where does strawberry milk come from? Pink cows, of course.
It’s a silly thing that some children believe; something grandparents tell grandchildren when pulling their leg.
I created this painting for an art fair we exhibited at in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a land filled with dairy cows. I was pleased that so many people who saw it got the joke, reminiscing nostalgically about the “fact” that strawberry milk comes from pink cows.
Part of the humor comes from considering the silly logic of children, and the outlandish things they are prone to believe.
I, for one, used to believe I was Superman. I wore my Superman shirt under my school uniform in second grade to prove it.
The ridicule of my classmates inspired me to reconsider that belief.
But kids are not alone in their misguided understanding of the world. We grown-ups believe our fair share of ridiculous things, don’t we?
After all, some of us believe that you can’t eat breakfast for dinner and should never eat dessert first.
Some of us believe that Diet Coke is good for us.
Some of us believe it’s bad luck to bring bananas on a fishing boat.
Some of us believe that the first few years of parenting are the hardest.
Some of us believe that it’s possible to do and see everything on vacation, and we should ruin that vacation trying.
Some of us believe the news other people watch is propaganda while the news they watch is always true.
Some of us believe that we don’t need to prioritize spending time with loved ones, as long as the scraps of time we do spend is “quality” time.
Some of us believe that money is the best barometer of success.
Some of us believe that skin color says something about who we are as a person.
Some of us believe that good times will last forever.
Some of us believe that bad times will last forever.
Some of us believe that love is a feeling.
Some of us believe the devil isn’t real.
Some of us believe that they’d finally be happy, if only…
Oh dear. Perhaps we grown-ups are not as grounded in reality as we like to think. Maybe we are all in danger of following a few rules that don’t exist.
I know I believe some of these things some of the time. But it’s probably silly to believe that anyone who reads this will take a moment to re-evaluate their own beliefs.
Maybe even sillier than believing that pink cows are responsible for strawberry milk.