Day 17: Sneezing

It used to be OK to sneeze in public. I sneezed in an elevator the other day and if looks could kill the four passengers I was riding with would have widowed my wife (the toll of my death has obviously not been kind to my beautiful wife, photo left).

I sneezed into my half bent arm at the elbow as is the current protocol. Perhaps we should all start carrying handkerchiefs as is suggested in this 1953 public service announce film targeting rude sneezing in public.

I understand the reasoning for sneezing responsibly in public but I think a little more tolerance might make sense. After all sneezing is an involuntary reflex. As our lives get more and more sterile medical science warns that in our current hyper-germ-phobic state we may actually be breeding stronger and stronger bugs while weakening our own defenses.

Day 16: Taking Your Time

It used to be OK to take your time, to take time for yourself, even to do nothing. Now we are all so connected with information and each other that we have no time. I'm checking work messages while I eat breakfast, taking calls while I ride my mountain bike, looking at data and making decisions during dinner.

Even in the shower my time is measured and I'm being asked to be even more productive by new hair and body wash.


Dial® for Men
BODY WASH WITH CLEAN
RINSING TECHNOLOGY
Hair + Body
Here’s a shortcut any guy will appreciate – a liquid soap that gets your hair and body clean, without extra bottles or steps. Get clean, conditioned hair and skin in a single step. To give you more time for more manly stuff.

I'm not sure I even had this problem until Dial came along to solve it. Is the 2.5 seconds it takes for me to grab a different bottle pop the lid and squeeze shampoo into my hand really cutting into my free time.

"Where were you? I called your cell...I sent you a text.... your facebook status says your home....why didn't you answer my tweet.....I finally emailed you....what's up???"

"Sorry I was in the shower trying to think of some manly things to do with the 2.5 seconds of spare time I gained with my new Dial body wash."

Day 15: Littering

It used to be OK to litter. I'm not sure anyone would have agreed that littering was OK but I'm not sure anyone thought to ask until it became a problem. When I say a problem I mean a significant cost to local governments to clean-up litter. Unlike most government programs which simply treat the symptoms (crime rate raising = hire more police) most littering campaigns attempt to address the problem at the source. When I say the source I mean ignorant simpletons with low self-worth.

One of the first such campaigns in Canada was "Litter Picking Pete". I couldn't find a picture of Pete but I found this CBC radio broadcast introducing him.


In Edmonton we spend over 2 million a year on a public awareness campaign "Capital City Clean-up"

These campaigns are great and help municipalities reduce their maintenance costs but the fact that people need this kind of help makes me crazy. Maybe not crazy but fearful. Fearful of the kind of people I'm sharing public space with. I suppose littering is based on the same ridiculous logic that smokers use to explain their right to a cigarette in public space. Now that I think about it smokers are some of the worst offenders when it comes to littering. For some reason cigarette butts are not considered litter by most smokers.



Edmonton recently updated their littering by-law 14614 to specify address discarding of cigarette butts on the ground as littering (subject to a $250 fine). If you would like to report an offender within the city of Edmonton just call 311.

Day 14: Fixing Stuff

It used to be OK to get things fixed. Gone are the cobblers and small appliance repair-shops. The Maytag-Man was forced into an early retirement. North americans are finding better and more efficient ways to exploit cheap overseas products eliminating the need to fix anything. It's cheaper to have children kidnaped from the streets of Indian and Asian cities work to build a new one then it is to pay a repairman in your own neighborhood to fix it.

Day 13: Failing

It used to be OK to fail a student if they did not meet the minimum academic requirements in a given school year. This is a tough one as I agree with both sides of this argument. I do believe that curriculum is only part of what you learn at school and that the social acclimation component is as, if not more, important. Holding a kid back a year may have a significant negative affect on his or her social education which could effect them for their entire lives. I also, however, cringe to imagine how my formal education and subsequently my adult life would have progressed without the fear of real consequence. I struggled through periods of my education as most people do and it wasn't until 3rd year University that things really started to come together. Without the fear and social consequences of failing I don't expect I would have ever made it to 3rd year. Apparently failing doesn't even happen in University anymore.

I think adversity is a necessary part of growing up. As a parent I would like to shield my children from all difficulties even though I know this would only be doing them harm. Facing difficulties allows a person to sort out the tools they will eventually need to succeed in life. The difficulties are an important part of what makes us who we are. So I guess I vote for consequences even the harsh ones like being held back a grade.

Day 12:Use a clothesline

Although many of the younger generation would think this is referring to a wrestling move, it used to be okay to hang your laundry out on the clothesline. Developers and communities began banning laundry lines to improve the image of their neighborhoods, as laundry hanging out was a sign of the working class, those unable to afford expensive dryers, and people found it offensive to see there neighbors gotch on the line. Considering that the dryer is the second largest consumer of electrical energy in the home it has now become an environmental rights issue, with states and provinces now passing anti-clothesline ban legislation and documentaries being filmed about laundry line rebellions. Now that so many communities have regained the right to dry the way they want, night classes will need to be offered to show new laundry liners how to safely use clothespins.

Day 11: Dropping In

It used to be OK to drop in on your friends for a visit. In todays over scheduled world dropping in unannounced has become fully rude. Everything from play dates for your kids to simply having coffee with a friend needs to be scheduled weeks in advance. Part of the problem is that the world has become more competitive and this includes parenting. "Competitive parenting", where parents are constantly comparing themselves and their kids to others who seem more organized, more together isn't a new phenomena but rather an important part of human nature.



To evolutionary maintain a healthy population, individuals within a given gene pool should be comparing themselves as a relative gage of success the problem lies in the definition of success. Beyond the biological success of passing on your genes, individual success really should be about living each day as fully and happily as possible. A person should spend their time reducing the frequency of stressful circumstances and, using an independent individual measure, do as many things that make them happy as possible. Living like this is not selfish and does not mean neglecting ones responsibilities as acting selfishly leads to loneliness and neglecting responsibility leads to stressful circumstances.

We instead allow ourselves to be crushed by social expectations and generally feel helpless, like life is happening to us beyond our personal control. Changing the definition of success even just a little may help bring a perspective that allows the false importance of social expectations (manifested as over scheduling) to be realized and maybe we can all slow down enough to figure out what is really important in our lives. With only 16,425 days left in my life I hope I can live happily as many days as possible.