2236 Self Rule

In a recent essay I mentioned how we seem to be a society of rule ignorers. And it's getting worse. That old maxim, "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission," once a last resort to justify emergency selfish plans, is now graven into the rock of our social mores like an 11th commandant. (BTW, Hell with those regular stone 10 commandments, we take our new morals from I-tablets.)

I mentioned how people ignore the "No Cellphones" sign in my health club locker room. The same day I wrote that essay I went to the club and a guy actually had an iPhone inside the sauna. Everyone sweating and buck-naked and him on his smartypants phone. I hope he fried his antenna.

Maybe there's a simple early diagnostic test for rule breakers. Not an app on a smartphone. Something as simple as letting them color in a coloring book. Remember how they told us to stay in the lines?

I remember some kids were quite obsessive about it. Any little smidgen of errant wax ruining their day. You could definitely judge how a child was doing in his or her socialization process by their progress in staying within the lines. 

I strayed quite a bit at first, but mostly because I was a pretty spazzy youth. Given to wild gestures and jerks as my limbs sought to release pent-up energy. Once I learned to master my energies by exhausting myself at recess that abated. 

I also learned that if one was dissatisfied with the limits of the drawings one could put the white crayon to good use. Coloring the white onto the black line and changing the image to suit my own plans.

Not sure what that says about me.  

America, ya gotta love it.