Sunday, August 26, 2007

Well, I never ...

I'm beginning to feel like an old fart. Jim and I went out to Hillsborough on Saturday to run an errand and on our way home we stopped at the local Wal-Mart. As it was the weekend before school starts, it was mobbed. Good thing it was a Super-Wal-Mart with plenty of room to roam.

We strolled by the large displays of obvious back-to-school gear, notebook paper, soap and shampoo (gotta be clean), sugary drinks and snacks (to keep you awake in class), etc. Then, there in the middle of the aisle was a large display stocked with a variety of Trojan condoms.

I said to Jim, "I've never seen condoms displayed so prominently. What are they saying to their customers? 'Please, don't breed.' "

Well, maybe they're just talking to the school-age population.

Jim replied, "Gotta have your condoms for back to school."

Yet another reason for my strong belief that kids, especially teenagers, should not be age segregated. Humans naturally learn by watching others, so why would you put kids in a classroom situation where the only so-called role model is an authority figure that usually arouses resentment? They then get their ideas about appropriate behavior from the similarly immature children with whom they spend eight hours a day.

So that's my extremely simplified explanation for how condoms became a back-to-school must-have item.

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