Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Codifying Life

Cultural Offering provides some must reading for our Nanny State times:

"When it rains, the water gets deep and I'm afraid one of them will get too close to that drain pipe and be sucked in," he worried. "Id like to put a grate across the front of it but it might get clogged and flood my yard," he continued. "They don't play in the creek when the water is deep," I said. "I think that they are fine."

The comments continued over the summer as the water remained six inches deep. He told me how he had called the city and told them that there was a liability in the creek. "Someone is going to drown in that water," he began one day. My kids reported that he was telling them to stay clear of the water. And then the sign went up and he was happy. "No One Permitted In Water". Problem solved.

And the kids continued to play in the water. My neighbor, Bill, moved away but the sign remained and the kids kept playing in the water - fishing, overturning stones, wading. . .playing. I suppose removal of the sign by the city would be tacit approval of kids playing in the water. If something happened, there could be liability. So the sign remains. . .ignored. No harm? Problem solved?

2 comments:

Tim said...

Michael,

I know you've heard this before, but if I had to unsubscribe from all my RSS feeds but one (and some days I think I should), yours would remain.

I really enjoy reading your posts.

Michael Wade said...

Tim,

That is very kind of you.

I deeply appreciate it.

Michael