The "Free At Last! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Shopping at the Stauffers' of Kissel Hill grocery store in Lititz, Pennsylvania.  Carol and I enjoy shopping at this local grocery store since they prepackage many homemade items such as quiche, baked oatmeal, apple dumplings, desserts, freshly made salads and a large variety of other speciality items.  Today we visited the store with the intent of buying a few flank steaks since our family will visit with us this coming Labor Day weekend and they love the way Carol marinates the steaks.  Found a few large steaks and decided to head to the candy department for a package of milk chocolate non-pareils.  Turned down the wrong aisle and before long were staring at shelf after shelf of cookies.  As I checked out a few varieties I looked a bit higher on the shelf and saw the brightly colored boxes of Nabisco's Barnum's Animal Crackers.  Looked at them and suddenly realized something was different about them.  It was in a new package.  Why would they change the package after years and years of the same one?  We bought our children and grandchildren boxes of Animal Crackers for their Christmas stockings for years.  And, now they are different.  The new boxes no longer look the same.  

The old boxes of Animal Crackers with bars on the box.

When I got home I checked out a box of the crackers we had in our pantry and realized the box no longer looks like a circus wagon car with wheels on it and bars.  Naturally had to check it out online and realized that the bars on the wagon have been removed after 116 years of production because of the pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  The new box is the same bright colors, but with the wild animals no longer behind the bars that held them for years.  Wasn't long ago that the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus ceased operating with wild animals and then finally took down the tents for good after a 146-year run.  

Boxes as they appeared on the shelf oday.

This new design for the boxes reflects the same reasoning of allowing wild animals to be in the wild.  I'm sure that some may not notice the change in the boxes, but I saw it as soon as I saw them.  I'm sure the cookies taste the same and that is what my children and grandchildren enjoyed.  Seems the Humane Society of the United States is rejoicing over the new look on the Nabisco boxes.  Nabisco is hoping that when children open the boxes they will line them up, match them up with the names on the box and learn about them and then decapitate them!  Hey, my only complaint is that you can't dunk them in milk, since they don't absorb the liquid.  Maybe if I could get a group together to complain about that, they would change them for me.  I rather doubt it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.