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Moms need to stick together, no matter what sport's involved
By Catherine Mallette
Star-Telegram

Two little things happened last week that led me to a bigger thought about moms, parents and the American suburban way.

The first little thing

The first thing was that I saw a bumper sticker.

"Lacrosse moms can beat up soccer moms." This was the message on the Suburban ahead of me in the drive-through line at a Dallas McDonald's. There was also a little cartoon of a lacrosse stick bashing a deflated soccer ball.

I'm sure it was meant to be funny, but, to me, it wasn't. It's possible that my sense of humor had taken too much of a beating during the week. It's hard to find anything funny about hitting people in the wake of a natural disaster that wipes out a city, followed by a human disaster of violence, followed by late-arriving soldiers toting automatic rifles in an attempt to bring peace to a place and a people who have been shattered.

I scanned the back of the Suburban for more clues to the owner's view on life. Bright window stickers indicated that children in the family attended Jesuit College Preparatory School and the Episcopal School of Dallas -- both wonderful schools and both faith-based Christian institutions.

Now the bumper sticker struck me as not only inappropriate but somewhat ironic.

What would Jesus say, I wondered, if he happened to be sitting beside me in the car. I pictured him chomping his way through an M&M McFlurry. Would he yell out, "Go, Eagles!" and "Lacrosse rules!" or would he wonder why a grown-up was so engaged in childish competition, a kind of "my school and my sport are better than yours" na-na-na-na-boo-boo rivalry?

Then I realized I was being ridiculous. As much as I would want Jesus to think exactly like I do (and as many McFlurries as I might buy to persuade him to), I am sure he would not be clogging up a drive-through line in the first place.

I went from being annoyed by the bumper sticker to being a little sad. I wondered why any mom would ever, even in jest, start a mom-against-mom movement. Momhood -- parenthood -- is hard enough.