A Child's Plea For The End of Bureaucracy as We Know It       21.07.05 * 21:34

At Chik-fil-A today, there was a little boy (about 3 years old) sitting behind me talking to his grandfather. The grandfather said something about them going on a boat trip, and mentioned that everything was ready, including the fact that he had obtained the necessary license for the boat. Here is the conversation that followed.

Little Boy: "Why do you need that?"
Old Man: "Well, ah, you have to have one so you can take the boat out."
LB: "Why?"
OM: "So that... so that they can give you the sticker to put on your boat."
LB: "What's on the sticker?"
OM: "Oh, some new letters. I'll put the new letters on the boat."
LB: "Ow." (apparently poking at a bruise of some kind)
OM: "I have some new numbers to put on the boat too."
shortly thereafter...
LB: "Is it going to get dark outside?"
OM: "Well, not yet."
LB: "Why?"
OM: "It gets dark at about 9 o'clock and it's only 6:30 now. So, about 2 more hours. About 2 and a half more hours."
LB: "Why?"
OM: "Well... you see, when... Do you know how you can count? 1, 2, 3, 4, ... 10 - "
LB: "What's 10?"
OM: (continuing) "Time goes the same way, but when you get to 12, it goes back to 1."
LB: "Ow." (poking at bruise again)
OM: "Ouch. When did you get that?"
LB: "Today."
OM: "Was it today, or yesterday?"
LB: "It was yesterday!"
OM: "It looks like it really hurts."
LB: (speaking slowly and wisely) "Oh, I'll be ok. I'll be all right."

Lesson One: If boat licenses don't make sense to children, and they can't reasonably be explained by adults, then we probably shouldn't have them.

Lesson Two: Don't poke bruises.

I kind of want a baby now.