Social Faux Pax Number One: Stepping in dog turd:

When you're a little kid, stepping in dog turd is completely acceptable. Your mother sighs and rolls her eyes. She has to take off your sneaker and wipe it on the grass, or a brick; perhaps even get a stick to scrape the pooh out the little grooves in the tread. Maybe she yells at you to watch where you're going in the future, and your big sister tells you smell. If you have to get in the car it stinks a bit, but you don't feel bad. You don't give a crap; literally.

By the time you're 18, or 19 ( a grown-up, some might say) steppping in dog-turd is a big no-no. You feel like an idiot; a loser, a social failure. All your friends keep walking while you try and get the pooh off your flip-flop; perhaps some of them snicker. Most try to pretend they didn't notice, embarassed for you. If there's a person there of the opposite sex whom you like (or the same sex depending on your preference) the damage to your image may be irreprable. They might have thought you were cute...funny...interesting...but suave, thoughtful and sophisticated just went right out the window. All the tireless work and energy we put into looking good and appearring clever, blown apart in one swift moment of not watching what was at our feet. They'll never forget the day you ruined it all by stepping in dog turd. Now you just smell a bit stinky and no matter how much scraping and poking with a stick you do, the wiff lingers.


"The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate."

Douglas Engelbart quotes (American Inventor, most famous for co-inventing the computer mouse b.1925)