Evolution Of The Chia-Pet

October 2009: A new toy is on the market. Chi-chi-chia-Obama!
I watch TV and I see a little bust of the Us President made of brown terracotta, to be filled with water, covered in seeds and left to sprout green hair. With some imagination, the hair may be made to sprout out of the nose or ears -- what healthy fun!

I'm sure no one would have tried such a bad joke with the Romanian President (before the European Union). Ceausescu would have put them in prison and would have thrown the keys away.

But we live in a democracy, and the bad joke is even considered "a piece of history" that you may keep for yourself, or give to someone else as a present (so says the ad).

When I came to Canada, we did not have too much money, and I enjoyed the chia-pet my son bought for me. A sheep, I think it was. Can you imagine the honor to have the two chia-toys blooming on the mantel one next to the other? A sheep and a "piece of history" sharing my mantel, covered in the mangy growth of sprouting seeds.

As a child, we had in the house little busts of the then leaders of our socialist/communist world -- Lenin and Stalin -- and it would have been an act of lese-majeste to put them to work and grow plants on them. Not to mention that the Security would have had a lot to say about such disrespect.

November 2009: The Chi-Chi-Chia-Obama ad has disappeared. I heard the President just laughed when told about the toy, but it disappeared none-the-less.

December 2009: Chi-Chi-Chi-Chia is back with the normal ad for the Chia-Pet, but now it has added Sponge Bob to the collection. Now, this is what I call Honorable Dismissal! Replacing Mr. President with Sponge Bob!