You can run, but you can't hide

[Jechbi]

Here's a telling example of what the combination of good intentions and aversion can bring:

SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. -- Pizzas and pornographic magazines being delivered to your home by the dozens. Your phone rings all night, and your e-mail inbox overflows with thousands of profane hate messages.

It would be enough to have most people saying, "What the $%X& is going on here?"

But most people aren't McKay Hatch, the 15-year-old founder of the No Cussing Club whose stand against public profanity has suddenly subjected him to a torrent of four-letter-word abuse and other harassment. ...

Maybe he should have formed a "no more money" club.

[genkaku]

If you tell a kid not to stick beans up his nose and then leave the house, what is the first thing he's likely to do?

[Fede]

Oh Lordy genkaku how true!
There I am, many years ago, babysitting for a toddler, and his mother, upon leaving, turns and admonishes him - "and don't go licking the socket!"

So of course, what do I have to try stopping him from doing all evening... Crawling to the wall and....

His mother gets home, and I confess I've had as devil of a job getting him to stop.
She looks at me astonished.
"Really? He's never done that before!"

It's the same kinds of thing if we notice somebody has a mildly physical handicap, or weird blotch on their facd. our eyes are drawn to it, and it's all we can do to not stare......

[Ben]

Thanks Jechbi, Genkaku, Fede

Sounds to me like the sort of 15 minutes of fame that you don't want!
You can't help but feel sorry for the poor kid, though I am sure it will be an incredible learning experience for him.
Cheers

Ben

[Placid-pool]

It's the same kinds of thing if we notice somebody has a mildly physical handicap, or weird blotch on their facd. our eyes are drawn to it, and it's all we can do to not stare......

Like the Mike Harding story about his childhood when a man with an enormous hooter came to visit. Having been warned by his mother, Mike was careful not to stare and everything went fine until he served tea and politely asked the man - do you take sugar in your nose?

[Ben]

That reminds me of the scene in 'Roxanne' (w/ Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah), and the young rookie firefighter who joins the squad is taken aside and gently warned, he is really sensitive about his nose. Don't say anything, and whatever you do, don't catch him staring at it!!!
And of course, having been told not what to do, the young man is mesmerised by Steve Martin's character's nose and comedy ensues.
Cheers

Ben